Events

ASEOWA, SIERRA LEONE BOOSTED BY AN ADDITIONAL 103 CLINICAL AND MEDICAL HEALTH WORKERS

Lungi, Sierra Leone, 5 December 2014: The African Union Support to the Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA), Sierra Leone, has received an additional 103 clinical and medical volunteers. The new team, made up of Nigerians arrived at the Lungi International Airport at 2:25 pm on the 5th of December. They were received by Nigerian High Commissioner to Sierra Leone, H.E. (Mrs.) Gladys M. Quist-Adebiyi, Sierra Leonean Deputy Minister of Health, Hon. Foday Sesay, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. (Mrs.) Ebun Strasser-King, Regional Coordinator, Northern Province of the National Ebola Response Commission (NERC), Mr. M.A. Jallow, the District Coordinator of the NERC (Port Loko), Mr. Raymond Kambia and ASEOWA Deputy Head of Mission, Dr. Richard Ssekitoleko.
The team led by the Director General of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Prof. A. Nasidi, was deployed following two days orientations conducted by the African Union in Lagos, Nigeria.
In her welcoming remarks, the Nigerian High Commissioner to Sierra Leone lauded the concerted efforts in the fight against Ebola and in particular the contribution of the medical personnel, remarking on the enormous capacity both in human and material value that the Nigerian Government has brought to tackle the scourge. “I want to emphasize that this team did not come alone but also with mobile laboratories and lab technicians, an expression of the seriousness of this deployment. We know that sooner rather than later we will kick Ebola out of Sierra Leone,” she added.
Prof. A. Nasidi disclosed that the deployment was part of the comprehensive support of Nigerian Government that also includes continuous technical manpower development and cross-fertilization of expertise that will witness training of 12 Sierra Leoneans at the NCDC. He noted the significant addition that the federated states of Nigeria have made to the deployment, in a bid to beat and be ahead of the virus.
“One of the few lessons we learnt in Nigeria and how we successfully kicked Ebola out of Nigeria is by coordinating responses not only as a case sector activity but a total package that encompasses mobilizing the public about the disease, taking care of the patient and taking care of the environment where the virus is spreading to,” he mentioned.
As part of the ongoing African Union support to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the AU Commission has made an initial deployment of 87 clinical, medical and logistical personnel to the affected Member States, 31 of whom were deployed to Sierra Leone. The team has since been redeployed into the various pillars - Case Management, Epidemiology/Surveillance, Logistics, Psychosocial and Social Mobilization - set up by the Government of Sierra Leone. In partnership with the Sierra Leonean Ministry of Health, ASEOWA team is coordinating the management of the newly opened ETU in Magbenteh, Bombali District. The latest arrival is expected to consolidate on the achievements of ASEOWA and also backstop the health sector in Sierra Leone.
Welcoming the volunteers, the Deputy Head of Mission, on behalf of the Head of Mission expressed appreciation to the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, African Union and the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone for the holistic approach to combat of the disease outbreak in Sierra Leone. “You are joining a team of 31 AU medical experts already involved in the EVD fight, operating in the Northern District of Bombali at the level of the various pillars set up by the Government. We are confident that your addition to the team already on ground will further strengthen our capacity and elevate our collective achievements,” he added.
The African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa through the Executive Council Decision at its Sixteenth Extraordinary Session held on 8th September 2014 in Addis Ababa has been deploying medicaland human resource capacities in response to the Ebola Virus Outbreak in West Africa.
For Further Information on the AU response to the Ebola outbreak contact:
Wynne Musabayana | Deputy Head of Division | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Temitope Famuyide, Humanitarian Affairs Officer
ASEOWA, Bombali, Sierra Leone
tpfamuyide@gmail.com+232 76796445

For further information contact
Directorate of Information and Communication | African Union Commission I E-mail: dic@african-union.org I Web Site: www.au.int I Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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AU Sends additional 250 Health Experts to Ebola Affected Countries
Partners with Mobile Operators to launch AfricaAgainstEbola SMS campaign

Lagos, Nigeria 3rdDecember, 2014 – As part of the African Union’s effort to stop the Ebola disease in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, two hundred and fifty (250) health volunteers from the Federal Republic of Nigeria were given a send off ceremony on 3rd December in Lagos before deployment to the affected countries. The Nigerian health contingent will be part of the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA) operations already deployed in the three countries.

The medics were assembled by the Federal Government of Nigeria in response to the appeal made by the Chairperson of the African Union Commission Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma for Member States to contribute health personnel to join the fight against Ebola. The team comprises medical doctors, nurses and other medical and paramedical personnel and epidemiologists.

Meanwhile, at the historic ceremony, the AU Commission in collobaration with mobile telecom operators and other private sector companies, launched an sms campaign, as part of the resource mobilization efforts to support the ASEOWA operations. The SMS campaign aims to mobilise citizens across the Continent to contribute in the fight against Ebola by texting “StopEbola” to 7979 and donating one USD per message. The funds raised will be used for the training and deploymentof further ASEOWA personnel. The AU is targetting to deploy more than 1000 volunteers before the end of the year.

In her opening remarks, Dr. Dlamini Zuma expressed appreciation to the Government and people of Nigeria for contributing health professionals to the fight to Ebola. She called for a united front against Ebola and encouraged that “ we must not relent as long as Ebola remains a real threat to our existence”. The AU Chairperson futher appealed for the resumption of flights to the affected countries so as to end the isolation and stigmatization of the three countries. Finally, she appealed to all citizens of the Continent to contribute to the AfricaAgainstEbola campaign.

The Executive Chairman of Econet Wireless Mr Strive Masiyiwa lauded the African Union foe acting decisively to defeat Ebola. “It is appropriate that at a time when we are facing a medical crisis, we have able leadership in the form of Dr Dlamini Zuma”.

The Nigerian Minister of Health Dr Khaliru Alhassan, speaking on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan assured the AU of Nigeria’s commitment in the fight against Ebola and that the country will continue to play a leadership role and share the country’s experiences on stopping the disease.

Speaking on behalf of the private sector and introducing the AfricaAgainstEbola initiative, businessman Mr. Aliko Dangote called for the mobilsation of every resource and appealed to “every African citizen to contribute by SMS to the fight to stop Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone”. I want to thank all the GMS operators for making this possible” he concluded. It will recalled that during the Africa business round table conference in Addis Ababa last month, thirty two and a half million USD was contributed by the private sector across the continent.

AU Commissioner of Social Affairs Dr Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko appraised the meeting of the AU intervention since April 2014 to date. He highlighted the decisions made by the AU structures and key deployments that have been made to the three affected countries.

At present, the AU has deployed hundreds of health experts in the three most affected countries to fight the Ebola disease. Due to the high demand for more personnel needed to join the fight against Ebola, Member States have responded favourably to the AU Chairperon’s appeal for more contribution of health personnel to the AU team. In a related development, another 210 health volunteers from the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, and 52 from the Democratic Republic of Congo, will be deployed to the sub region in a fortnight under the ASEOWAoperations.

For further information contact

Wynne Musabayana| Department of Information and Communication | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: Musabayanaw@africa-union.org| Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Wurie Bah|Social Affairs | African Union Commission |Tel: +251912621689| E-mail: bahw@africa-union.org | Web:www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

About the African Union

The African Union spearheads Africa’s development and integration in close collaboration with African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. AU Vision:to accelerate progress towards an integrated, prosperous and inclusive Africa, at peacewith itself, playing a dynamic role in the continental and global arena, effectively driven by an accountable,efficient and responsive Commission. Learn more at: http://www.au.int/en/

ASEOWA TAKES AWARENESS TO EBOLA DISEASE HOTSPOT IN LIBERIA

Friday 28th November, 2014 – On 27th November, the AU-ASEOWA head of mission, Major General Dr. Julius Oketta accompanied by the Inspector General of Police of the Republic of Liberia, Attorney Clarence Massaquoi, and the ASEOWA team visited an Ebola disease hotspot on a sensitization campaign.

The sensitization campaign against Ebola followed an earlier scheduled press conference and high level meeting of General Oketta and Attorney Massaquoi at the Police Headquarters in Monrovia. Attorney Massaquoi in his welcome address at the meeting praised the efforts of the African Union ASEOWA team in helping to fight the unwelcomed Ebola virus in Liberia. He also promised their full support as needed by the ASEOWA team in eradicating the Ebola virus in Liberia.

In his brief response, the Head of Mission ASEOWA; General Oketta assured the people of Liberia of the continued support and unrelenting commitment of the AU-ASEOWA for the people of Liberia in ensuring that Ebola is brought to an end completely. In his address, he reminded the people of the need to adhere to the safety precautions of not touching sick people. He also admonished the people to restrain themselves from celebrations especially visiting the beaches until the country is declared by WHO as Ebola free.

After the meeting, General Oketta and the ASEOWA team, in the company of the Inspector General of Police moved to West-Point; a hotspot area of the Ebola virus disease spread, where they were welcomed by a large gathering. The ASEOWA team seized the opportunity of their people’s responsiveness to communicate the AU-ASEOWA message on Ebola prevention and how to stop the spread of the Ebola virus disease in the communities.

For more information, visit http://www.au.int

For further information on AU’s Ebola response contact
Wynne Musabayana | Deputy Head of Division | Information and Communication Directorate | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Toluwani Oloke Public Information Officer
folaketolu@yahoo.com
Tel 0888166806

About the African Union

The African Union spearheads Africa’s development and integration in close collaboration with African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. AU Vision:to accelerate progress towards an integrated, prosperous and inclusive Africa, at peacewith itself, playing a dynamic role in the continental and global arena, effectively driven by an accountable,efficient and responsive Commission. Learn more at: http://www.au.int/en/

34 ASEOWA HEALTH PERSONNEL NOW AT WORK IN LIBERIA

Monrovia, Liberia 26 November 2104- The African Union’s ASEOWA Head of Mission; Major General Dr. Julius Oketta, disclosed that the African Union Support to Ebola mission) has 34 personnel on ground and at work in Liberia, and the AU –ASEOWA medical team is handling the ETU at Ministry of Defense 1 (MOD1) while 6 medical doctors are also deployed to assist the Liberian health sector in treating other non-Ebola diseases at the JFK national hospital.

Dr Oketta made the announced this on 26 November when he met with the Chinese government delegation, WHO and CDC to discuss collaboration efforts in fighting EVD in the epicenters of the EVD spread. Also present at the meeting was the special representative of the African Union to Liberia and Sierra Leone; Ambassador Toyin Solaja who welcomed the Chinese delegation and explained that AU-offices are normally present in post-conflict countries and as expected, the African Union Commission has sent forth a team of volunteer medical and non-medical personnel to the 3 majorly affected countries.

The Head of Mission for AU-ASEOWA, General Oketta also enumerated on the efforts of the African Union which is a body of the 54 member states of Africa, that has brought humanitarian and logistics support to the affected countries. The medical personnel include clinicians, epidemiologists, nurses and lab technicians while the non-medical personnel include logistics, psychosocial and communication teams.

According to the Head of Mission, the Nigerian government, as part of their efforts in supporting other affected countries, will be sending a team of volunteers to be deployed under the ASEOWA mission next week. He stated that the target number for Liberia deployment is 250 while for Sierra Leone is 160.

The WHO representative in Liberia also present at the meeting highlighted two major priorities which are hospital treatment and community outreach and also stated that the Liberian situation cannot be assessed in isolation without considering Sierra Leone, Guinea and now Mali which is developing cases. According to the WHO representative, Ebola has seriously affected the national health system in Liberia, and the request was made that the Chinese government should assist by supporting the restoration of the health system.

In response, the Chinese delegation expressed gratitude to the partners for their efforts and stated that the Chinese government has so far provided 750 million Yen worth of support to countries affected by Ebola. They also mentioned that their agenda is to deploy up to 100 medical staff to Liberia and also to train local medical staff as part of their exit strategy for the post-Ebola phase.

The Chinese government already has an Ebola testing laboratory in Sierra Leone and will be constructing another in Liberia. This gesture was applauded by the ASEOWA head of mission as this would mean a faster turn over time for blood tests to determine the status of suspected and probable cases. The Chinese delegation also mentioned that they are willing and ready to participate in African Union’s efforts in building a regional center for disease control (CDC) in Africa. They also indicated that the Chinese funded ETU being built will soon be opened to start admitting and treating patients and the medical evacuation plan also extends to other partners as well.

TOLUWANI OLOKE
ASEOWA LIBERIA

Wynne Musabayana | Deputy Head of Division | Information and Communication Division | African Union Commission | Tel: (251) 11 551 77 00 | Fax: (251) 11 551 78 44 | E-mail: MusabayanaW@africa-union.org | Web: www.au.int|Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

Toluwani Oloke | ASEOWA communications Officer | +231888166806| E-mail: folaketolu@yahoo.com | Web: www.au.int |Addis Ababa | Ethiopia

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About the African Union
The African Union spearheads Africa’s development and integration in close collaboration with African Union Member States, the Regional Economic Communities and African citizens. AU Vision: to accelerate progress towards an integrated, prosperous and inclusive Africa, at peace with itself, playing a dynamic role in the continental and global arena, effectively driven by an accountable, efficient and responsive Commission. Learn more at: http://www.au.int/en/

COMMUNIQUE OF AFRICA BUSINESS INITIATIVE RESPONSE TO EBOLA
AU Conference Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
8 November 2014

At an historic meeting today, the African Union together with African Development Bank, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and leading businesses in Africa committed to join forces to create and support a funding mechanism to deal with the Ebola outbreak and its consequences.

To date, the Ebola virus disease has devastated communities, infecting more than 13,700 people and killing over 4,900. While the global response to the current crisis has increased in recent weeks, there is still a critical need for additional competencies to care for those infected, strengthen local health systems and prevent the disease spreading.

African business leaders at the Roundtable comprised CEOs from different sectors, including banking, telecommunications, mining, energy, services and manufacturing, among others. They agreed to establish a fund under the auspices of the African Union Foundation through a facility managed by the African Development Bank, to boost efforts to equip, train and deploy African health workers to fight the epidemic.

At the meeting, participants saluted Governments, International Organizations, Institutions, NGOs and businesses that have been at the frontlines of the Ebola response, and agreed to urgently scale up the deployment of health workers in the three most affected countries: Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. They also noted with appreciation that a number of African countries to date have pledged over 2,000 trained health workers to support the efforts in West Africa, with additional commitments expected.

Responding to appeals from these countries, leading companies in Africa, present at the Roundtable, committed logistical support, in kind contributions and over $28 million as part of the first wave of pledges. In addition, a number of businesses represented in the meeting undertook to immediately consult with their governance structures and will announce their pledges to this effort in the next few days. Roundtable participants further called on the private sector across Africa to join them in this effort. Businesses also agreed to leverage their resources and capacity to help galvanize citizen action around a ‘United Against Ebola’ campaign, and to provide individuals across Africa and globally with an opportunity to contribute.

These funds will be used to support an African medical corps – including doctors, nurses and lab technicians – to care for those infected with Ebola, strengthen the capacity of local health services and staff Ebola treatment centres in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. These resources will be deployed in the framework of the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA), in close coordination with the national taskforces in the Ebola-affected countries and the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER). The resources mobilized will be part of a longer term program to build Africa’s capacity to deal with such outbreaks in the future.

Moreover, participants decided that the Africa Business Roundtable would become an annual meeting of the African Union to help solidify collaboration with the private sector in Africa on key development issues facing the region.

Business leaders agreed on a follow up mechanism to implement the commitments made at today’s meeting, reach out to other business entities, monitor the roadmap and agreed to act with urgency.