funds

As famine takes hold in South Sudan and threatens to spread to northeastern Nigeria, Somalia, and Yemen, world leaders must immediately step up to fully fund the United Nations’ appeal for $6.3 billion.

Six months after the International Conference on Ebola Recovery in New York, at least $1.9 billion worth of promised funds have not been delivered and scant information is available about the remaining $3.9 billion.  Global leaders are failing to honor their promises to communities devastated by Ebola in West Africa as $5.8 billion of pledged recovery funds proving almost impossible to track.

The World Bank and international donors must find $1.7 billion to improve dangerously inadequate health systems in Ebola-affected countries said Oxfam.

Hundreds of local volunteers are helping Oxfam to provide support and information to more than 400,000 people living in Ebola-affected communities in West Africa to stop the spread of the disease.

Today (Friday 31st October) marks the half way point in the UN’s Ebola response plan for West Africa which aims to bring the outbreak under control by the end of November. Since October 1st, we have seen some positive and encouraging steps. For example, pledges have reached almost $1 billion and several nations have offered military and other support.

At today’s EU summit, European leaders collectively pledged to raise their financial contribution to help respond to the Ebola crisis, bringing Europe’s total commitment to €1 billion.

Oxfam is warning that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa will not be contained unless more is done to prevent new infections. 

Agencies fear recent improvements will be wiped out as the number of severely hungry people will rise by one million in first three months of 2015.