Sherlock announces funding to combat the Ebola crisis

Funding of €600,000 and emergency supplies are to be sent to assist communities battling the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, Minister of State for Development Seán Sherlock said yesterday.

The money is being allocated to Unicef for life-saving nutritional supplies for children, and the 42 tonnes in supplies, including blankets, mosquito nets and water tanks will be airlifted from the United Nations humanitarian response depot in Ghana for distribution by the World Food Programme, Goal and Concern.

Mr Sherlock said he was gravely concerned about the continued spread of Ebola and its devastating impact on communities and families in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Many of the people affected were already extremely vulnerable, he said.

"The Ebola epidemic in west Africa is the worst ever, with more than 5,000 people now reported to have been infected," he said. "Health services in these countries are already overwhelmed and the World Health Organisation has warned of an exponential increase in cases over the coming months.''

The aid has been welcomed by children's development agency Plan Ireland as a "positive development". It added it was deploying an emergency response specialist to Sierra Leone in the coming days.

Plan Ireland chief executive David Dalton said the countries battling Ebola were among the poorest in the world and the public health systems across west Africa were fragile.