ECOWAS ministers have called for a regional response to the Ebola epidemic in some Member States, calling the outbreak “a serious threat to regional security.”
In a communiqué at the end of their 31st meeting in Yamoussoukro, Ministers of the Mediation and Security Council authorised the ECOWAS Commission to take appropriate action in collaboration with the relevant health institutions in the region to mobilize stakeholders and resources to stem the spread of epidemic.
Some 64 fatalities have been reported in Guinea and Sierra Leone since the latest outbreak of the deadly hemorrhagic fever.
The regional ministers voiced “deep concern” over the outbreak and expressed sympathy and solidarity with the affected Member States and the bereaved families.
They also appealed for international assistance in the management and control of the epidemic
