The ECOWAS Commission and the African Development Bank (AfDB) on Wednesday in Abuja signed a Grant Protocol agreement for US$300,000 towards the coordination of Ebola Crisis Response Project in the most affected countries in the region – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The grant comes under the Bank’s multinational crisis response technical assistance project totally US$7.65 million to support the three countries and two regional institutions – ECOWAS and the Mano River Union (MRU) – in addressing the critical gaps in medical human resource capacity, training and provision of incentives to local health workers in order to improve response to the Ebola outbreak. The project will also focus on the mobilization of the private sector for holistic response and maximum outcome.
Signing the accord, the President of the Commission H.E. Kadré Desire Ouédraogo expressed the gratitude of ECOWAS institutions to the President and the Management of the AfDB and other partners for assisting the Community combat the Ebola outbreak, which has claimed more than 4,500 lives mainly in the three West African countries.
While acknowledging the severity of the situation, the President said there was great hope, given the successes recorded by two ECOWAS countries – Nigeria and Senegal – which have been declared free of Ebola by the World Health Organization (WHO).
The ECOWAS chief said the grant would go a long way in complementing the multi-sectoral regional response and intervention mechanism put in place at the instance of ECOWAS leaders and being coordinated by the Commission and the West African Health Organization (WAHO), the Community’s specialized health agency.
He called for greater solidarity, concerted action and coordination, pointing out that while intensifying efforts to defeat the disease, there was the need to eschew actions that could hinder the free movement of people, one of the pillars of the region’s integration project.
The AfDB Country Director, Dr. Ousmane Dore, who initialed the Protocol on behalf of the Bank, said the accord comes within the Bank’s overall support to countries affected by the Ebola epidemic totaling US$220 million.
“We hope that our collective commitment will help to overcome this scourge and save the African population from the risk of being infected by the Ebola virus disease,” he said, expressing the hope that “in a few months from now the Ebola crisis will be behind us.”
Present at the signing ceremony after bilateral talks between the two institutions were other officials from the AfDB Country office and Headquarters, and the ECOWAS Commission, including the Health Adviser to the President of the Commission, Dr. Mariane Ngoulla.
The Bank has also signed separate Memoranda of Understanding with the three ECOWAS Member States detailing support for their specific needs.
