Europe top aid provider for Ebola emergency

(Vatican Radio) The Ebola outbreak in West Africa was first reported in March 2014.

It has killed more than all other known Ebola outbreaks combined, with almost 5000 people reported as having died from the disease predominantly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

There has also been a fatality in  the United States. The total number of reported cases is in excess of 10,000.

The European Commissioner for Health, Tonio Borg, told us that Europe is in the forefront in providing aid and funding…

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Borg points out that the virus has been disastrous in the worst hit countries, not only from a health point of view, but also from an economic point of view.

“The European Union is the continent which has provided most assistance in kind, and also in funds” he says.

Borg say that “On its own the EU has already allocated 180 million euros, mostly to strengthen the health systems of these countries – so it is a long-term assistance as well; and through various projects on a bilateral level the various States have given assistance to the tune of 320 million euros. So that’s already half a billion euros from the European side”.

“I think this is part of our moral obligation towards these countries” he says.

Borg speaks of what he thinks is a very low risk of the disease spreading in Europe: ”this does not mean that we should become complacent. So we have had a mapping of all the isolation ujnits in European hospitals and clinics, and also a network of laboratories for the testing of the virus”.