Ebola Outbreak: IMF to Give Sierra Leone $80m Immediately

Sierra Leone is to receive more than $80m (£52m) immediately to help the country end the Ebola outbreak and recover from its effects.

The IMF has pledged a $187m financial aid package for Sierra Leone to support the country’s struggling economy.

World leaders are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday to talk about Ebola and the long-term plans to fight the disease.

Nearly 10,000 people have died in the outbreak, the vast majority in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

‘Painstaking task’

On Monday, the UN said that the struggle to contain the epidemic was reaching a “second phase”.

But UN special envoy on Ebola David Nabarro told the Associated Press news agency that the international community should not become complacent as getting to zero cases was “the hardest part”.

“It’s a really difficult, painstaking task,” he said.

Around 600 delegates will meet on Tuesday to discuss the response to the outbreak.

World leaders, including the presidents of all three worst-hit nations, will talk about how best to rebuild the economies after the epidemic has been stopped and what the response should be in the long term.

The Ebola outbreak has killed 9,714 people in West Africa since it began in 2014, with 23,913 confirmed cases.

Ebola virus disease (EVD)

Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage

Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva

Fatality rate can reach 90% – but current outbreak has mortality rate of between 54% and 62%

Incubation period is two to 21 days

No proven vaccine or cure

Supportive care such as rehydrating patients who have diarrhoea and vomiting can help recovery

Fruit bats, a delicacy for some West Africans, are considered to be virus’s natural host

Source: BBC News