Belgium: EU releases extra 2 million euros for Ebola epidemic

Brussels, Belgium (PANA) – The European Union has released an extra two million euros for containing the Ebola epidemic which broke out in three West African countries -- Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone -- and is likely to spread to other countries in the region, official sources here said Wednesday.

In a press statement, Kristalina Georgieva, EU Commissioner responsible for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, said that European epidemiologists and humanitarian workers have been deployed in the countries affected by the epidemic.

Georgieva paid glowing tribute to the doctors and the humanitarian workers who lost their lives trying to save victims of the disease.

According to the statement, the funds will be managed by EU humanitarian organisations and partners, Médecins sans Frontières, WHO and the International Federation of the Red Cross.

So far Ebola has claimed at least 670 lives out of 1,200 confirmed cases.
-0-PANA AK/BEH/MSA/AR 30 July 2014