Summit to help countries worst hit by Ebola crisis

EBOLA-RELATED deaths in West Africa would be higher than the number of people directly infected because of the disruption to already weak healthcare services, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said yesterday.

The WHO is convening a meeting in Geneva next week with finance and health ministers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, donors and NGOs, to develop practical actions on improving healthcare systems for the future.

WHO health systems coordinator Gerard Schmets said: “Ebola has strongly affected the already weak health systems, and Ebola has probably killed more people than the 6 000 linked to the disease itself.”

Vaccination programmes and general health services had stopped altogether in the worst-affected areas of the three countries, which had borne the brunt of the outbreak, while pregnancy care had also been hit, he said.

There was already a shortage of health workers. Sierra Leone had only two doctors for every 100 000 people, or just about 120 doctors for six million people before the Ebola outbreak began.

Since then, health workers have been hit disproportionately by the virus, with 333 dying across the three countries.

Malaria remained a pressing problem, while people with chronic diseases have had to interrupt their treatment to move to other districts to continue their care, Schmets said.

The gathering on December 10 and 11 will include representatives of the African Development Bank, the World Bank, the Centres for Disease Control and groups working to combat Ebola in the affected countries. – AFP