The Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has been underrated by the international community and now constitutes a challenge to global security, members of the European Parliament said in a resolution adopted Thursday.
As the affected countries face socio-economic collapse, the deployment of military assets under the UN flag should be considered and access to existing treatments speeded up, the MEPs stressed.
There is an urgent need for funds but also for operational capacity, including qualified human resources and logistic materials, said the resolution. The use of military and civil defense assets under the leadership of the UN Secretary-General should be considered, it added.
MEPs noted that the affected countries are already suffering from shortages of food and clean water, and facing economic collapse due to the disruption of trade, cancellation of commercial flights and loss of harvests caused by the pandemic.
Social unrest, people fleeing affected areas, and chaos is only spreading the virus further. Moreover, the outbreak has revealed the serious inadequacy of these countries' health systems, which urgently need support, they added.
The MEPs asked the European Commission to assess the needs and draw up country-specific plans in order to determine and coordinate demand for and deployment of health personnel, mobile laboratories, equipment, protective clothing and treatment centers.
Stressing that all EU Member states should coordinate flights and establish dedicated air bridges, the resolution said the African Union should be encouraged to consider a holistic action plan as the crisis becomes more complex and political.
Clinical trials of existing candidate treatments against the Ebola virus should be advanced, MEPs said. Nevertheless, they called for a clear distinction to be drawn between treatment and vaccination tests, stressing that clinical trials of the latter should respect the relevant WHO rules in force.
Since the Ebola outbreak was officially declared on March 22 in Guinea, it has spread to four other countries (Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Senegal), infecting almost 4,000 people and causing more than 2,000 deaths. According to the World Health Organization, the number of patients could grow to over 20,000 over the next three months.
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