AfDB and WHO Sign US $60 Million MOU to Strengthen Ebola Response in West Africa
The President of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB), Donald Kaberuka, and the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Luis Sambo, on Tuesday, August 26 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) cementing a US $60 million Bank grant to help strengthen West Africa’s public health systems in response to the Ebola crisis.
The funds, which will be implemented by the WHO, will be used to help recruit and train health workers, purchase equipment and medicine, and ensure that the necessary logistics are in place at the local level to provide emergency health services to Ebola patients.
As of Monday, 2,615 cases of Ebola have been recorded since March, resulting in 1,427 deaths in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
“The Ebola crisis has shown the weakness of our health systems. When we have vanquished Ebola, there will be other challenges, and we must be better prepared. This concerns us all: Ebola has no passport; it respects no borders,” said President Kaberuka. “It is a very dynamic epidemic. This is why – on top of this work with the WHO – the AfDB will invest an additional $150 million to assist its regional member governments through budget support operations in order to pay health workers, equip health centres, and create jobs.”