African Union’s efforts to contain the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease
(EVD) in West Africa has been boosted with Dangote Foundation pledging
the sum of $3 million to a fund established by African business leaders
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This is in addition to the
previous interventions in Nigeria where the foundation, owned by
business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, had spent about $5 million to
evolve a two-pronged strategy that directly support the Nigerian
Government’s Ebola containment efforts through investments that
strengthen Nigeria’s health system in a manner that will endure beyond
the current Ebola crisis.
The AU fund had been
set up in response to the AU Chairperson, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma’s
call for $30 million from Africa’s private sector to support the Ebola
outbreak in West Africa.
This initiative is poised to send
1,000 African health workers including doctors, epidemiologists, nurses
and lab technologists to join ongoing efforts to stop the devastating
EVD outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The shortage
of professional and trained health workers on ground is widely
acknowledged to be one of the key factors limiting Ebola containment
efforts in the three countries.
Dangote commended fellow business leaders for their speedy response to the AU’s call.
He encouraged more business leaders and the public to contribute,
saying: “Ebola continues to devastate and take away lives in Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone. There must be no let-up in urgently matching
solidarity and moral support with faster and more strategic actions.
None of us can sleep easy until Ebola Virus contained.”
He
closed his statement by applauding all those working on the frontlines
to contain Ebola - the health care workers, those tracking and tracing
contacts, those ensuring that Ebola victims receive dignified burials,
among others.
“I want to use this opportunity to thank each and
every one of you around the world for playing heroic roles. I
commiserate with the families of your colleagues who have made the
supreme sacrifice while fighting Ebola. I thank and applaud all the
African volunteers who will be part of the AU initiative,’’ he said.
The fund established by the business leaders will be hosted and administered by the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The fund would enable immediate deployment of medical personnel to the
three affected countries. The business leaders present at the meeting
agreed to encourage their colleagues to contribute to the fund and also
lend in-kind support to the pan-African initiative.
As at November 7, some 13,241 people had contracted Ebola and 4,950 had lost their lives to the disease worldwide.
Credit: Crusoe Osagie/ThisDay
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