Mogherini : Ebola outbreak not over yet

BRUSSELS, March 3 (KUNA) -- A high-level conference on Ebola hosted by the EU with the participation of the Heads of State and Government of the countries that are more affected in Africa , as well as the United Nations and NGOs kicked off in Brussels Tuesday.
"We must first of all realize that it's not over yet, and we have still to concentrate all our efforts to make sure that there is no new case and that Ebola is defeated for sure and for good," EU High Representative Federica Mogherini told journalists as she arrived for the conference.
"That's why we are having this conference today: to concentrate on what needs to be done immediately to make sure that we have no other cases and that the cases that are there, are treated in an effective way," she said.
"We have to make sure that the pledges done by the international community - the one from the European Union is very consistent, over 1 billion euro over the last year- are delivered in the best possible way; and that we start looking forward how to reconstruct the health system, the welfare system, the entire community system of these countries that were close to be destroyed by this terrible phenomenon," she added.
Meanwhile, speaking at the conference, the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Elhadj AsSy, urged the international community to maintain its strong momentum for the response.
"The Ebola outbreak is not over and complacency, both at local and global levels would be one of our worst enemies, Complacency would lead to unnecessary deaths and preventable tragedies," he said.
He noted that the latest figures show that transmission continues to spread in certain areas of the affected countries, particularly in Sierra Leone. (end) nk.gta