The ECOWAS Commission President, Kadré Ouadraogo, has restated the sub-regional body’s commitment towards winning the fight against the Ebola virus disease.
This was contained in a statement from the commission on Monday in Accra, Ghana at the opening of a five-day training programme for 150 health volunteer workers.
The statement said the volunteers, who are citizens of Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal, are to be deployed to Ebola stricken countries in the sub-region.
The statement said: “The prevention of Ebola virus from spreading to other countries in the sub-region is a principal priority of ECOWAS.
“The ECOWAS commission remains committed towards providing all the necessary supports to ensure the success of the ongoing battle against Ebola.”
The statement quotes Ouedraogo as commending Heads of West African governments and the people of the sub-region for their commitment since the outbreak of the virus.
“This gathering to kick-start training for the regional health workers is indeed a demonstration that we are committed to collectively address this challenge,” the Commission said.
The statement also quoted Ghana’s Health Minister, Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, as describing Ebola as a disease that knows no border, which requires the concerted efforts of all nations to tackle.
Agyemang-Mensah said: “Ebola disease knows no border, the case detected in Guinea quickly spread to neighbouring states; countries outside the continent such as U.S., Spain and Norway have also recorded victims.
“This clearly shows that the fight must be global, nations and international organisations must rise up to the challenge of stamping out this epidemic.”
Ebola fever, a contagious disease, whose cure has yet to be discovered, appeared for the first time in a northern town of former Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 1976.
The World Health Organisation says the disease, which resurfaced in Guinea in March 2014, had killed over 5,000 people.
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