Sierra Leone News: EU dele jets in

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A two-man high level delegation from the European Union (EU) are in town to firmly commit to supporting the countries affected by the Ebola outbreak and their development in the immediate and longer-term; reaffirming partnership and solidarity with West Africa. In this context, Mr Marcus Cornaro, Deputy Director General for Development in the European Commission, and Mr Philippe Maughan, Ebola Coordinator in the European Union Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department are visiting Sierra Leone on 18th September. Their programme includes meetings with the President, the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Health and the Coordinator and co-chairs of the Ebola Emergency Operations Centre as well as discussions with Member States of the European Union and other key development partners. The EU is developing a comprehensive EU response framework to address the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and a key aim of the visit is to inform the Sierra Leonean authorities about the efforts of the European Union and its Member States to provide further human and financial resources, including the European Commission’s recent package of EUR 140 Million, in order to contain and stop the virus. This package includes funding to support the development of health systems including laboratories, treatment centres, sufficient numbers of qualified health workers, and macro-economic stability. The European Union Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated and is channelling in kind support of Member States. EU mobile laboratories are deployed in the region to help with the diagnostics and confirmation of cases and train laboratory technicians. Furthermore, the EU has also decided to back the African Union mission to support the response, ASEOWA, and is in close contact with governments in the region to ensure that affected countries are not isolated. The Ebola outbreak brings wider challenges to the region in terms of economic stability, food security, water and sanitation. Strengthening health care systems both during the crisis and in the recovery phase and improving food security, water and sanitation, essential for safeguarding the health of the population, are part of the European response. Beyond the immediate response, Sierra Leone will also receive financial assistance through budget support to deliver health care services and bolster macro-economic stability in response to wider economic challenges arising from the crisis. Furthermore Deputy Director General Cornaro will update the Government about on-going work under the 11th European Development Fund. The European Union will retain operational capacity in Sierra Leone to be able to coordinate help when needed and continue its programmes and has also decided to field an in-country Coordinator for Humanitarian Aid, who will be based in the EU Delegation in Freetown. The European Union together with the EU Member States continues to be committed to a strong, coordinated international response to the Ebola outbreak in the region and will do all it can to help the country control the disease and return to the path of its normal development partnership with Sierra Leone. Thursday September 18, 2014

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