Visit to Guinea - Main contents

Announcing new support for Ebola Response

I am just on my way back from Guinea, which, tragically, has been hit hard by the ongoing Ebola outbreak. The epidemic is not only having a deadly and devastating effect on its more than 2,000 Guinean victims and their families, but puts the stability of the whole country at risk.

EU humanitarian aid funding addresses some of the most urgent humanitarian needs there but I believe that we must also look ahead over the long term and beyond the crisis and define our support for this. A new report by the World Bank has just shown that the Ebola epidemic is crippling the economies of all three affected countries. Health systems that were already fragile before the outbreak are threatened by collapse.

I looked at EU support to the areas of water and sanitation during my visit (I visited a waste collection point, for example). I feel it’s important that we don’t just look at health in isolation; having good water and sanitation infrastructure in place is equally important to improve the situation in the long term.

During a meeting with the President, Professor Alpha Condé, I announced new support to strengthen development support in response to Ebola with another €61 million, which brings the total of the European Commission’s development funding to €210 million.

Our new pledge will include direct support to the governments of Guinea and Liberia to help them cushion the impact of the economic effects of the outbreak. We will also finance new measures to prevent violence and reduce and mitigate tensions that may arise from the outbreak in border areas of the affected countries. In addition, existing health and awareness programmes will be refocused to specifically tackle the challenge of Ebola.

I am convinced that this new pledge will help the countries better deal with the multiple challenges that arise from this crisis. And it shows that the EU stands firmly side by side with the people of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone; both in overcoming Ebola, as well as over the medium and long term.

A lot of work remains to be done in the coming months and years to overcome the crisis, but I hope that my visit this weekend underlines the EU’s commitment to working with countries like Guinea in partnership, helping them back on a path of prosperity and sustainable development.