JOHANNESBURG, June 16– South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday pledged 13.5 million U.S. dollars to help tackle Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda.
Ramaphosa, who serves as the African Union Champion for Pandemic Preparedness, Prevention and Response, made the announcement during a high-level virtual meeting of heads of state, government leaders and development partners on the Ebola outbreak.
“I am pleased to announce that South Africa is increasing its pledge to 13.5 million U.S. dollars as our commitment to solidarity and sovereignty for the people of this continent,” Ramaphosa said.
He called on leaders to maintain or increase their pledges, and urged those who had made pledges at the last meeting to fully convert them into cash, medical countermeasures or technical assistance.
Ramaphosa said Ebola continues to spread with loss of lives, while no vaccine or antiviral is available. He urged stakeholders to focus on breaking transmission and stopping Ebola at its source.
Ramaphosa also called on political leaders to help create safe corridors for the passage of goods and services and ensure peace in the DRC, saying this would make it easier to tackle Ebola.
“We must continue to strengthen cross-border collaboration. We must expand rapid diagnostic testing, contact tracing, and community awareness,” he said.
“As African leaders, we must accelerate investment in local manufacturing, strengthen the African Medicines Agency and operationalize the African Pooled Procurement Mechanism,” he added.
Ramaphosa also urged African financial institutions, development banks, philanthropies and the African private sector to contribute to efforts to tackle Ebola. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
