ebola

UN Photo/Mark Garten

UN capacities 'pushed to the limit' in 2014, Ban says in year-end wrap-up

17 December 2014
After a year of “discord, disease and disruption” that saw peace operations, diplomacy and humanitarian capacities “pushed to the limit” responding to West Africa's Ebola outbreak, terrorist groups and ongoing conflicts in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressed reporters today at United Nations Headquarters, where he summed up the year and looked ahead to 2015.
UN Photo/Martine Perret

Ebola: UN says health workers in Sierra Leone to receive hazard pay using mobile money

16 December 2014
Response workers battling the Ebola outbreak in West Africa will receive “hazard pay” for the first time in Sierra Leone using mobile money because “unless there is a certain element of incentives, or danger pay, it’s very difficult to attract and retain people,” the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced today.
UNDP/Morgana Wingard

Ebola: UN forum urges debt relief for hard-hit countries, as search for faster diagnostics gets underway

15 December 2014
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today recommended that creditors should seriously consider debt cancellation for the countries worst-hit by the Ebola epidemic in West Africa, and also projected that even if those most affected were to register zero economic growth, the impact on Africa as a continent would be minimal.

Ebola: UN envoy calls for “big surge” in efforts to reduce transmission rates in Sierra Leone

13 December 2014
Amid a spike in Ebola transmission rates in Sierra Leone, the United Nations envoy coordinating the massive global crisis response has travelled to the West African nation to help implement a surge in efforts to contain the outbreak.
UNICEF Guinea/Christophe Boulierac

UN meeting urges critical improvements to health systems of Ebola-affected countries

12 December 2014
The international community must help Ebola-affected countries reboot their health systems so that they emerge from the current crisis more resilient and more focused on prevention efforts than ever before, a high-level meeting coordinated by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva heard today.
UNICEF/John James

Ebola response must include efforts to bolster health systems – UN Economic, Social Council chief

11 December 2014
While the priority is to stop the Ebola outbreak, measures must also ensure that the emergency response is linked to longer-term efforts to strengthen health systems in those countries hit the hardest, President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) said today.
UNMEER/Christopher Bailey

UN congratulates frontline Ebola response workers battling virus in West Africa

10 December 2014
The United Nations today congratulated the front line workers in the field battling Ebola on their well-deserved recognition as Time “Person of the Year,” while countries affected by the outbreak and their partners met to ensure cases do not cross borders and to lay the foundation for resilient health systems respectively.
UNMEER/Simon Ruf

Ebola: UN envoy says intense response needed for western Sierra Leone and Guinea-Mali border

9 December 2014
The United Nations, working with its national and international partners to halt the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, is currently focusing attention on bringing down the high levels of transmission in western Sierra Leone and ensuring that cases do not cross the border from Guinea into neighbouring Mali, the UN Special Envoy on Ebola Dr. David Nabarro said today.
UNMEER/Simon Ruf

Health workers on Ebola response frontlines get boost with donation of protective gear – UN

8 December 2014
The first of 700,000 sets of protective gear intended for healthcare workers battling on the frontlines of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa arrived today from Japan and were handed over the United Nations, as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said the crisis has left some 5 million children out of school.
FAO/Caroline Thomas

World must do 'whatever it takes' to ensure recovery of Ebola-affected countries – Ban

5 December 2014
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed today to members of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) “to do whatever it takes” to help the West African countries hardest hit by Ebola grow back stronger and more resilient, while the head of the UN health agency noted that the “fear of Ebola is moving faster than the virus” itself.