Activities of Birgit COLLIN-LANGEN related to 2014/2204(INI)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the Ebola crisis: the long-term lessons and how to strengthen health systems in developing countries to prevent future crises
Amendments (25)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the disease has claimed 6 387 lives in the region1; __________________ 1WHO data as at 10 December 2014.in 2014 is the largest and most complex outbreak of this virus disease in history and has affected many countries and resulted in thousands falling ill and dying1 a; whereas, prior to this outbreak, Ebola had not been considered a major public health challenge; __________________ 1a Situation report: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/situa tion-reports/archive/en/
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the outbreak is the largest ever, and is currently affecting four countriedespite the fact that the outbreak was officially declared in Guinea on 22 March 2014 , Ebola was only recognised by the WHO as ian West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali), while outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal have been declared to be over, and a separate outbreak in the DRC has also endedinternational public health emergency on 9 August ; whereas the outbreak has affected more than 20 000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and has spread to 9 countries and 3 continents;
Amendment 19 #
Draft opinion
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas this epidemic iss are unpredictable and constantly evolving; whereas the intensity of this outbreak is decreasing but its geographical spread is increasing;
Amendment 23 #
Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas the main challenges in the three most affected countries have been the lack of experience in dealing with Ebola, a highly mobile population, a widespread public misperception of the disease and its transmission paths and a high degree of community resistance to early treatment, leading to acts of aggression against international medical personnel;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the worst-hit countries have received some assistance from the international community, but foreign governments have focused primarily on financing or building Ebola case- management structures, leaving it up to national authorities, local healthcare staff and NGOs to staff theminternational community had underestimated the scale of the outbreak, and the initial response was therefore hesitant and did not reflect the true extent of the crisis;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas, across the region, there are still no adequate facilities in the locations required for isolating and diagnosing patients; whereas in many places in West Africa, coordination is an issue, resulting in serious gaps in the responsppropriate diagnosis, isolation, treatment and care facilities are already available in the worst affected countries, but the coordination, geographical distribution and flexibility of these facilities still represent a major challenge;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Recital E a (new)
Recital E a (new)
Ea. whereas, according to UNICEF, several thousand children have been orphaned as a result of the epidemic; whereas many Ebola victims suffer from discrimination, loss of status and social exclusion;
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Recital F
Recital F
F. whereas other elements that are essential to an Ebola response – such as awareness-raising and community acceptance, safe buri international community’s response to the countries affected by Ebola should address the entire range of challenges and include many different elements, such as awareness-raising, improving the commitment of the community, social mobilisation, ensuring safe funerals, contact tracing and monitoring, alerts and surveillance, and access to health care for non-Ebola patients – are still lacking in parts of West Africa;
Amendment 53 #
Draft opinion
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas the results of clinical trials for different treatments should be starting soon in West AfricEbola vaccines should be available in the first quarter of 2015; whereas additional funds are still needed to help countries introduce vaccines, to rebuild the collapsed health systems and restore immunisation services in the countries affected by Ebola;
Amendment 59 #
Draft opinion
Recital G a (new)
Recital G a (new)
Ga. whereas the outbreak has dramatically affected local health personnel and the continuation of the training process in West Africa; whereas medical staff are still at great risk of becoming infected with Ebola;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Recital H
Recital H
H. whereas international financial aid was slow in the first instathe measures taken in the fight against Ebola should form part of a coordinated process of ensuring greater transparencey and ill-adapted later on, encumbered by serious bottlenecks in terms of staffingclarity and focusing more on shortcomings and meeting needs;
Amendment 70 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Welcomes the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and the establishment of the EU Task Force for Ebola and the appointment of Commissioner Christos Stylianides as EU Ebola Response Coordinator and the overall contribution and the help of numerous partner organisations, specialised national and international agencies, the Funds, national and international non-governmental organizations, local and international medical staff and the volunteers working on the ground to combat Ebola;
Amendment 73 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Requires the Member States and the Commissioninternational community to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola, and to advance the necessary clinical trials for existing candidate treother epidemic-prone, life-threatening viral infectious diseases; calls upon the international community to ensure that mentsasures are taken on the ground to immunise the population;
Amendment 80 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2a. Welcomes the eight research projects carried out by the EU under the Ebola + Innovative Medicines Initiative with the aim of developing vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
Amendment 96 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls on the Commission to put in place control systems to ensure that the entire budget allocated to stopping the Ebola outbreak is actually used to fight the epidemic in the countries affected by the virus and not for other purposedistributed in a transparent, readily understandable manner; calls for the geographic focus of the EU aid to be broadened and for that aid to be used primarily to address problems common to a number of different areas;
Amendment 103 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sectorposes a threat to the weak economy and to political and social stability not only in the countries affected, but throughout the west African region; emphasises that improving health systems will not be enough to eradicate Ebola; takes (thealthcare, education and training, sanitation view that the ‘zero new Ebola cases’ objective calls for integrated, fcood aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressrdinated efforts, including on the part of the international, national and regional actors and the various sectors (health, education, training, hygiene, disinfection, sanitation, food aid, safe drinking water, functioning sewerage systems, waste disposal) involved, in order to remedy the serious shortcomings ing the current Ebola outbreak, is keyprovision of all key services;
Amendment 113 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key; calls on the international community and the EU to work together with the countries affected to develop an emergency medical training programme with a view to overcoming the acute local shortage of medical staff;
Amendment 117 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5b. Calls on the international community to take the steps required to address the social problems caused by the outbreak and, in particular, to ensure that children orphaned by Ebola are protected and cared for and that Ebola victims are integrated into society;
Amendment 121 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
Amendment 136 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission tointernational community to continue strengthening the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should invest in and encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;
Amendment 147 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
Amendment 155 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9a. Calls on the Member States to make further efforts to provide the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre with the resources and staff it needs; urges the Member States to coordinate their efforts in the Health Security Committee, with the involvement of the Commission, and emphasises the importance of further cooperation and exchanges of information on the pool of EU aid volunteers, which aims to provide an effective European response to disasters;
Amendment 157 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)
Paragraph 9 b (new)
9b. Calls on the international community to guarantee that there are sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment available and to take measures to guarantee safe medical evacuation of international staff in the future;
Amendment 158 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 c (new)
Paragraph 9 c (new)
9c. Welcomes, in that connection, the mobilisation of medical evacuation capacities (Medevac) for international humanitarian aid workers who have contracted the disease in the course of their work in the countries affected;