Thursday

28th Mar 2024

EU anti-Ebola funds not reaching aid workers, Red Cross says

  • The European commission has handed out €65.8 million, from a total of €373 million pledged, to fight Ebola. (Photo: ec.europa.eu)

Ebola is flaring up as aid agencies struggle to keep staff on the ground, while EU pledges and donations have yet to appear.

The stark message was delivered to reporters in Brussels on Monday (17 November) by the head of operations for the International Federation of the Red Cross, Birte Hald.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“It is a massive disease, the spread of Ebola is out of control, and we need massive resources in order to combat this,” she said.

Hald, who is based in Guinea’s capital Conakry, said active outbreaks are still taking place in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, and is now gaining pace in Mali.

“Transmission is not over and it is absolutely premature to start being optimistic,” she noted.

The European Commission on Monday announced an additional €29 million in aid, bringing its total anti-Ebola funds to €373 million.

Of that sum, the commission has handed out €65.8 million.

With EU member states forking out millions more, the total EU pledge is now over €1 billion on top of equipment and supplies.

But the Red Cross says most of it has yet to materialise on the ground.

“When you are talking about €1 billion from the EU, I think this is still a little bit abstract,” Hald said.

She noted that the Red Cross itself has seen only €2 million of the EU’s €1 billion so far, but is expecting another €5 million after applying for a grant from the European Commission.

The commission, for its part, has so far dispersed around €19 million for humanitarian purposes and another €46.8 million to, for instance, prop up weak health care systems in the affected countries.

An EU source could not cite how much of the money from member states has been allocated, noting that the reporting system “is not completely reliable”.

Lack of staff

Another senior Red Cross official, Antoine Petibon, said the problem is being compounded by the fact some 60 percent of all its qualified volunteers have resigned.

Workers from other charities, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, are also being put under pressure by family and friends not to go.

One Red Cross worker from Chad returned home from Guinea for a two-week break but was placed in quarantine by airport authorities in N'Djamena and was unable to see his family.

Similar other stories have complicated a relief effort that is being undermined in part by stigmatisation and discrimination, said Red Cross’s director of Africa zone, Alasan Senghore.

“If they [health workers] are discriminated against, we won’t see the end of Ebola,” he noted.

Last week, Morocco announced it would no longer host the Africa 2015 Cup of Nations football tournament because of the disease.

The virus has already killed over 5,000 people.

Another 14,000 have been affected, with a mortality rate hovering between 60 to 90 percent depending on treatment conditions and quality of healthcare.

Cases going up

“Case numbers have been going up in Sierra Leone, some regions unfortunately dramatically,” Christos Stylianides, EU co-ordinator on Ebola, also told MEPs in the development committee on Monday.

Stylianides said the case increase is linked to the lack of medical infrastructure in the country.

Stylianides, who had returned from a four-day tour of the three worst affected countries, said more medical personnel are urgently needed.

"This is clearly an area where, we collectively, can make a real difference," he said.

West African leaders call for post-Ebola support

The leaders of the three West African countries worst hit by the Ebola epidemic called on the international community for a regional ‘Marshall Plan’ at an EU-hosted conference on Tuesday.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  2. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  3. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  4. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  5. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  6. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  7. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  8. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us