EU Launches Ebola Coordination Effort.

Original post | BY AUGUSTINE AMINU , dailytimes.com.ng

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the EU leaders launched their own Ebola coordination effort on Friday in Brussels, appointing Cypriot Stylianides as the bloc’s new Ebola coordinator.

He said Stylianides, 56 years old and a dental surgeon by training, was already set to serve as commissioner for humanitarian aid and crisis management in the next European Union on November 1.

Fabius said the coordinator would ensure that the action against Ebola was effective on the European level and that each country did what was necessary.

Meanwhile, a WHO emergency committee has urged the West African Ebola hotspot countries to step up efforts to screen outbound travellers for the disease, while holding off on recommending such a step at destination points.

The committee said the medical experts had already recommended temperature measurements at exit points in August.

They said the experts after their latest meeting stressed that the screening process should be “high-quality,” and that data should be shared with WHO quickly and regularly.

“This will increase public confidence and provide important information to other states,” they said.

The WHO committee emphasised that the experts stuck by their position not to recommend screening at arrival airports.

They said such measure that has been instituted in a number of countries, including the U.S and Britain, may have a limited effect in preventing the spread of the disease by deterring sick people from starting journeys.

They also warned that they were very costly and required adequate management systems to be in place.

The said such limitations of airport check were the case of a Liberian man who travelled to the US at a time when he did not show any symptoms, but died this month.