KEY POINTS
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon concluded his visit of the region.
UNDP has supported the payment of hazard entitlements to 16.000 workers in Sierra Leone through mobile cash transfers.
Key Political and Economic Developments
1 . United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a three-day tour of the region on Friday and Saturday, visiting Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Mali and Ghana. He met with the leaders of those countries as well as with survivors of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), healthcare workers and UN staff.
In Liberia, the SG participated in an Incident Management System (IMS) meeting with EVD response partners, where he discussed current trends and the next steps in the response. He warned against complacency at what remains a critical time. The Secretary-General also visited several treatment facilities. On his visits he was accompanied by the Director General of WHO, Dr. Margaret Chan, the UN Special Envoy on Ebola, Dr. David Nabarro, and the Head of UNMEER, Anthony Banbury.
2 . In Guinea, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned about rising EVD infection rates in the southeast of the country. While infection rates in Liberia, one of the nations hardest hit by the outbreak, have been slowing, other areas have registered an uptick in the rate of the disease's progress. Infection rates in south-eastern Guinea, the region where the deadliest outbreak in history began a year ago, have also failed to decline substantially. Solid cross border collaboration is necessary to prevent a resurgence of the epidemic, Ban said in Conakry. The Secretary-General also warned of the serious socio-economic consequences the outbreak is likely to have in the affected countries. "While our immediate priority is to stop the spread of the disease, it is not too early to start thinking about recovery," Ban said. "We must scale up our efforts to restore basic social services, strengthen health services, support economic activity and build up the countries’ resilience."
3 . In Sierra Leone, Ban Ki-moon met Rebecca Johnson, a Sierra Leonean nurse who caught the virus but survived. She recounted how she fell gravely ill, recovered and is now back treating EVD patients. Ban said he was moved by Johnson's story, especially that she still faced a stigma as a survivor. "There should be no discrimination for those who have been working or helping with Ebola.
Those people are giving all of themselves," Ban said. He also made it clear that UNMEER is intended to be a short term mission: "My intention is not to keep UNMEER longer than one year. If that isn't the case, people will regard it as a failure".
4 . Votes are being counted in Liberia's senate election held on Saturday. Turnout in the poll - which had originally been planned for October - was low as many people decided to stay away. Those who came to polling stations had their temperature taken, were told to stand a meter apart and wash their hands before and after voting. Among the 139 candidates vying for 15 seats were former football star George Weah and Robert Sirleaf, the son of Liberia's president.