Ebola Epidemic Could Drain $3-4 Billion from Sub-Saharan African Economy, Reverse Peacebuilding Gains in Hardest-Hit Nations, Economic and Social Council Told
Speakers Call for Continued International Aid to Ensure Sustainable Development
The deadly Ebola outbreak could inflict $3-4 billion in losses on the Sub-Saharan African economy and had already begun to erode economic growth in the hardest-hit countries, the Economic and Social Council heard today as it considered how the epidemic could endanger sustainable development.
“While Ebola is primarily a health issue, it has far-reaching implications on other sectors including education, sanitation and the economy,” said General Assembly President Sam Kutesa. The virus’ severe impact also had the potential to reverse the peacebuilding gains made in the three most-affected nations — Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, where short-term growth was expected to decline, he added, calling on Member States, the United Nations system, multilateral financial institutions and other partners for continued support.
Reports from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) showed that more than 40 per cent of farms had been abandoned in the most affected areas, while the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that at least 7,500 children had lost one or two parents to the disease and five million children remained out of school, he said.
Martin Sajdik (Austria), President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), said that while the Security Council and the General Assembly were focused on mobilizing international support for stopping the outbreak in the short term, ECOSOC must begin to plan for a post-Ebola response that would ensure that the affected nations did not veer too far off track from achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
He invited the United Nations system to conduct a comprehensive study on the economic and social impact of the Ebola outbreak, building on the work done by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and also invited Member States to submit additional ideas and proposals for follow-up actions.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noted that the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone were vibrant and growing before the Ebola outbreak, but they were now weak and stagnant. Stressing the need to fund treatments and cures for diseases that occurred in developing countries, he said that might not generate profit but was more important to the future than any financial gain.
Following the opening remarks, the Council heard testimonies by the representatives from the most-affected countries.
Kaifala Marrah, Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Sierra Leone, said 28 countries and international organizations had disbursed over $712 million in assistance, but only 5 per cent of the aid had gone to the national systems of the affected nations, calling for that issue to be addressed in ECOSOC. His country’s economic growth had decreased from 21.1 per cent in 2013 to 3 per cent this year. “We are under an economic embargo, because several airlines have suspended flights to Sierra Leone”, he said, calling on development actors to ensure aid effectiveness, disburse aid in a timely way, and work to reduce stigmatization in Sierra Leon and the other affected countries.
Mohamed Diare, Minister of Economy and Finance of Guinea, said his country achieved strong economic recovery in 2011, 2012 and 2013, but growth had been stalled this year due to Ebola, forcing his Government to lower growth projections to 1.3 per cent for 2014.
Mounir Siaplay, Deputy Minister for Economic Management of Liberia, said Ebola had threatened to undue the socio-economic progress made since the end of the country’s civil war. National efforts, together with the support of development partners and the international community, were aimed at trying to contain the epidemic while ensuring macroeconomic stability. In the medium- to long-term, financing a comprehensive post-Ebola economic recovery plan was a strategic imperative.
Dianguina Dit Yaya Doucouré (Mali) said his country had taken various measures to prevent the spread of Ebola, including surveillance of people in transit, tracing contacts and providing medical treatment to confirmed patients. Some cultural and religious traditions, such as washing bodies before burial, must be abandoned to prevent the disease’s transmission. There was a need to establish a platform for regular consultations among Governments through Skype or other information and communications technologies.
Delivering keynote addresses were Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and David Nabarro, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola.
Ms. Chan said Ebola was an old disease in a new context. The communities of the three most-affected countries had also responded to the epidemic with resistance and riots, and public health care facilities had been destroyed during their civil wars. The fear for Ebola was moving faster than the virus, imposing a burden on hard-hit countries, she said, calling on the affected communities to stop refusing to work with Governments, hiding new cases, and looking at Ebola treatment centres as places of contagion and death.
The Ebola outbreak could become an opportunity for those Governments to rebuild and strengthen their health sectors, she said. The current Ebola crises would not be the last one, as 22 African countries had an environment conducive for the virus to spread, she said, calling on countries and their development partners to invest in bolstering their health care systems.
Dr. Nabarro said Ebola was now known to have 100 different micro outbreaks. When all the ingredients of response were present, when countries were taking charge of the situation, when communities changed their behaviours, when quality healthcare was provided, transmissions slowed down. There were 60 new cases each day in Liberia in September, but the pace declined to 10 per day now. Yet, efforts must continue until getting to zero cases, without which transmission of the disease could resume.
Following the presentations, ECOSOC held a panel discussion on the threat Ebola poses to sustainable development, moderated by Paul Farmer, Co-Founder of Partners in Health and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti.
The Economic and Social Council will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 8 December to take up the issue of access to credit rating information.
Opening Remarks
MARTIN SAJDIK (Austria), President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), said that the Ebola outbreak had taken too many lives and the challenges it had created required a strong and coordinated response from the international community. That was why ECOSOC, as the United Nations’ principle body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on development, had brought participants together today to delve deeper into the economic and social dimensions of the Ebola outbreak in affected countries, the region and the rest of the world. While the Security Council and the General Assembly were focused on mobilizing international support for stopping the outbreak in the short term, ECOSOC must begin to plan for a post-Ebola response that would ensure that the affected nations did not veer too far off track from achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
This was not the first time, ECOSOC held a special meeting on a development-related emergency, he said. In years past, the body used its convening power to respond to the African food crisis and Avian Flu in 2005, the global food crisis in 2008 and 2013, the devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines last December. And during the peak of the HIV/AIDS crisis, the leadership and oversight of ECOSOC led to the establishment of the co-sponsored Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in 1994. The worst affected countries were counting on the support of ECOSCOC in fighting the Ebola outbreak.
BAN KI-MOON, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that the virus had killed more than 6,000 people. Many more people had died from other causes as fragile health systems collapsed. The three most affected countries had experienced significant development setbacks. Hard-won peace dividends were being eroded. Before the Ebola outbreak, the economies of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone were vibrant and growing. Now they were weak and stagnant. Incomes were down. Prices had risen. Markets were bare. People were hungry. While the Ebola outbreak must be ended, it was imperative to begin to focus on recovery.
There was also a need to build health systems capable of responding to emergencies and withstanding shocks such as Ebola, he said. And the international scientific and medical research community needed to devote more resources to funding treatments and cures for diseases that occurred in developing countries. Those treatments might not generate as much profit, but they would provide significant benefits for the world’s poorest people. “That is even more important to our future than any financial gain,” he said. ECOSOC had an important role to play in identifying actions that the international community could take.
SAM KUTESA, President of the General Assembly, while noting the improvements in dealing with the Ebola epidemic by national authorities and regional and international partners, said progress to combat the scourge remained uneven. The current crisis had underlined the need to build strong and resilient institutions, including health infrastructure, especially in post-conflict countries. Attention must be paid to the socio-economic recovery of the affected countries from the impact of Ebola, which threatened to derail their sustainable development efforts. As long-term recovery would require resource mobilization, infrastructure development and capacity-building, he called on the international community and the United Nations system for sustained commitment.
According to the World Bank, he said Sub-Saharan Africa’s economy was expected to incur losses of around $3-4 billion and short-term gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the three most affected countries was expected to decrease, he said. International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) reports showed that over 40 per cent of farms had been abandoned in the most affected areas. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that at least 7,500 children had lost one or two parents and five million children remained out of school. “While Ebola is primarily a health issue, it has far-reaching implication on other sectors including education, sanitation and the economy”, he said. The virus’ severe impact also had the potential to reverse the peacebuilding strides made in the most affected countries, he added, calling on Member States, the United Nations system, multilateral financial institutions and other partners for continued support.
Messages from Affected Countries
MOHAMED DIARE, Minister of Economy and Finance of Guinea, described how the Ebola outbreak was affecting the social and economic aspects of development in his country. Guinea had achieved a strong economic recovery in 2011, 2012 and 2013, but the growth had been halted by the Ebola crisis this year, forcing his Government to revise down the projected economic growth rate for 2014 to 1.3 per cent. The inflation rate had increased from 8 to 9.5 percent. Currency reserve exchanges had declined. Rice production had plummeted by 40 per cent, with corn production also on the decline. Closure of the border with Senegal made exports difficult. A $20 billion mining project had been delayed. The manufacturing sector was also hard hit. Transportation declined, with ports seeing fewer ships. In schools, teachers were not teaching because they were not paid. The health system had not been able to function normally. Public finance had declined as a result of a decision to allow tax deferment, but it would be difficult to postpone tax collection once again. Multilateral and bilateral support had been great. He joined the Secretary-General’s appeal for additional resources to support the affected countries, which would otherwise be brought down.
KAIFALA MARRAH, Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Sierra Leone, said the total number of confirmed cases reached 6,201, with 1,900 registered death cases, the majority of which were concentrated in the North-West and in the capital. Thanking the 28 countries and international organizations that had disbursed over $712 million in assistance, he said only 5 per cent of the aid had been disbursed to the national systems, calling for that issue to be addressed in ECOSOC. Challenges included high transmissions rates with 80 to 100 cases reported daily, as well as a shortage of bed capacity, functional treatment centres and laboratories. The nation’s economic growth had decreased from 21.1 per cent in 2013 to 3 per cent this year, while inflation rose to 7.8 per cent driven by food supply shortages. Revenue collection had been adversely affected. Ebola had directly affected the lives of 7,500 children; 2,800 children had lost one parent to Ebola and schools had been closed. “We are under an economic embargo, because several airlines have suspended flights to Sierra Leone”, he said, calling on development actors to ensure aid effectiveness, disburse aid in a timely way, and work to reduce stigmatization in the affected countries.
MOUNIR SIAPLAY, Deputy Minister for Economic Management of Liberia, said the Ebola epidemic had claimed the lives of many Liberians, as well as threatened the socio-economic progress made since the end of the country’s civil war. A sharp decline in agricultural production, particularly domestic food production, mining activities as well as activities in the service sector, had been registered. Expenditure demands had increased, placing pressure on the Government’s fiscal position. Despite an initial decision to have a military response to contain the epidemic, the country realized the importance of wider participation among all stakeholders in reducing the number of case loads. National efforts, together with the support of development partners and the international community, were aimed at trying to contain the epidemic while ensuring macroeconomic stability. In the medium- to long-term, financing a comprehensive post-Ebola economic recovery plan was a strategic imperative.
DIANGUINA DIT YAYA DOUCOURÉ (Mali) said his country had taken various measures to prevent the spread of the Ebola outbreak. There had been seven confirmed cases in the country; five of the infected people had died. Over the past 12 days, no new cases had been confirmed. Although the situation appeared to be stabilizing, his Government had continued to strengthen measures against the Ebola outbreak, enforcing surveillance of people in transit, tracing contacts and providing medical treatment to confirmed patients. Staff had been recruited and trained. Facilities had been equipped with tools to monitor body temperature. A comprehensive follow-up on contacts had been in place. Some cultural and religious traditions must be abandoned to prevent the disease’s transmission. Traditional religious leaders could play an important role in raising awareness that the virus could be transmitted by washing bodies before burials. Mali, Guinea and other neighboring countries could share best practices. There was a need to establish a platform for regular consultations among Governments through Skype or other information and communications technologies.
Keynote Addresses
MARGARET CHAN, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), said Ebola was an old disease in a new context. Reflecting on the ways it had spread quickly, she noted that no doctors knew how to diagnose the virus and no laboratory had specimens to know how the disease could affect the future of the countries. The communities of the three most affected countries had also responded to the epidemic with resistance and riots and public health care facilities had been destroyed during their civil wars. Prior to the epidemic the countries were making good progress. The current Ebola outbreak was the largest, longest and most complex seen in the 40 years of existence of WHO. The diseases had serious humanitarian, social and security implications, as travel and trade bans had been imposed. The fear for Ebola was moving faster than the virus, imposing a burden on hard-hit countries, she said, calling on the affected communities to stop refusing to work with Governments, hiding new cases, and looking at Ebola treatment centres as places of contagion and death.
Turning to positive aspects resulting from the epidemic, she noted the unprecedented support of the international community. Alongside WHO, which had provided technical know-how to deal with the outbreak, she thanked the World Food Programme (WFP) for delivering food and other supplies, the World Bank for contributing millions of dollars, as well as UNICEF for undertaking campaigns aimed at changing unsafe burial practices. The Ebola crisis could become an opportunity for those Governments to rebuild and strengthen their health sectors. Building resilience was very important to withstand shocks from viruses and from climate change. She also thanked the efforts undertaken by scientists for their research and development on vaccines. The current Ebola crises would not be the last one, as 22 African countries had an environmental conducive for the virus to spread, she said, calling on countries and their development partners to invest in building their health care systems.
DAVID NABARRO, United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola, said he had recently visited Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali as well as Accra, Ghana. Wherever he went and whatever events he attended, he had been impressed by national Governments and their tireless effort. Staff had been working with little sleep. He was also impressed by the African response and international response and admired the courage of people working on the ground in direct contact with Ebola cases. Emergency centres had been established in hard-hit cities, districts and prefectures.
Noting that the Ebola epidemic was now known to have 100 different micro outbreaks, he said that when all the ingredients of response were present, when countries were taking charge of the situation, when communities changed their behaviours, when quality healthcare was provided, transmissions slowed down. For instance, there were 60 new cases each day in Liberia in September, but the pace declined to 10 per day now. Yet, efforts should not slacken until getting to zero cases, without which transmission of the disease could resume. Although the Ebola outbreak damaged the fabric of society, he was emboldened by the determination of top leaders in each affected country to not just overcome the crisis but use that opportunity to get stronger and build a more resilient State.
Interactive Dialogue
ECOSOC then held an interactive dialogue on the subject. Moderated by Paul Farmer, Co-Founder, Partners in Health, and Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Community-Based Medicine and Lessons from Haiti, it featured presentations by Febe Potgieter-Gqubule, Special Advisor on Strategy Planning and Monitoring, Office of the African Union Commission Chairperson; Abdalla Hamdok, Deputy Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA); Mead Over, Senior Fellow, Centre for Global Development; Melanie Walker, Senior Adviser to the President, World Bank Group; Mark Thomas, Practice Manager of Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management, World Bank; Aleesha Taylor, Deputy Director, Open Society Education Support Programme, Open Society Foundations; and Alan Knight, Chair of the Ebola Private Sector Mobilization Group, and General Manager for Corporate Sustainability, ArcelorMittal.
Discussants included: Maged Abdelaziz, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, and Sunil Saigal, Principal Coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Response to the Ebola Outbreak.
Opening the panel, Mr. FARMER said that some of the important factors for health care providers included getting across the message that Ebola was not a death sentence, earlier diagnosis, and effective treatment.
Mr. POTGIETER-GQUBULE, speaking by video-link, said it was important to link the emergency response to Ebola to the longer-term goal of building a strong health care system. The response included increasing the number of doctors, nurses and health care workers in those countries and improving the health care infrastructure. That was needed to check the spread of diseases. It was necessary to ensure coordinated responses and let the international community learn from one another. Mobilizing civil society and business was also important.
Mr. HAMDOK, speaking by video-link, noted that existing studies on the impact of Ebola were derived from scant data and assumptions. The projections did not incorporate the intensity of the disease. He pointed to the successful responses in Nigeria and Senegal, which had helped the countries contain the spread of the disease. Their health centres provided effective responses. Nigeria, for example, used strong leadership and mobilized the civil society. Senegal used the strong diagnostic capabilities of its health care system to help check the response of the disease.
Mr. OVER said the economic impact of Ebola had direct costs, like medical expenses and prevention activities, but more than 90 per cent of the economic impact was caused by adverse behaviour towards the epidemic. To mitigate it, the world needed to be assured that the affected countries and Africa as a whole were healthy places to live, work and visit. Besides strengthening the health system, case detection was important. Passive case detection could be achieved if the health system was working well, like in Senegal and Nigeria, but active case detection was very important as mobile teams could quickly detect potential new cases and recommend treatment.
Ms. WALKER said the priority was focused on getting to zero, as recovery would not be possible until the virus had been stopped. The World Bank focused on four areas in its efforts towards recovery, including strengthening the health system and the agricultural sector to avoid food crisis, strengthening infrastructure and providing liquidity to small and medium-sized enterprises. Additionally the investment climate needed to be rebranded, as many companies had left the affected countries.
Mr. THOMAS identified the need for instant money to fund the immediate response to the crises. Additionally, financing for vaccines and treatments was needed, he said, inviting all development actors to think of innovative forms of financial instruments to increase such funding. On debt relief, he said the three affected countries were receivers of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Debt Initiative and the funds disbursed to them usually came as grants.
Ms. TAYLOR noted the need for flexible funding modalities that could meet locally defined needs. Mechanisms were needed which could direct resources to meet re-defined Government strategies. It was necessary to develop policies that provided better coordination of international and national resources, and to document the interventions that were working in order to develop improved disaster emergency preparedness responses.
Mr. KNIGHT said the Ebola Private Sector Mobilization Group of his company, ArcelorMittal, was formed in July and now had 100 members. It was an umbrella organization which helped companies share with others their experiences on responding to Ebola. One way that it helped its employees cope with Ebola was by taking their temperatures three times a day. The company taught employees about the disease. Another important role of the Group was keeping the economies of affected countries going by keeping their businesses operating. Another resource it used was advocacy. His company was maintaining its long-term commitment to the affected countries.
Mr. ABDELAZIZ encouraged debt relief and concessional loan efforts, calling on development partners to support financially and logistically the establishment of different regional and subregional health care centres. He also called on ECOSOC and the Peacebuilding Commission to coordinate more closely in addressing issues connected with the Ebola crisis. Turning to the medium- and long-term initiatives to address Ebola, he said private-public partnerships were needed to improve quality access to services, in addition to the creation of a United Nations interagency task force at the country level to strengthen public health care systems. He also called for the establishment of an intergovernmental mechanism under the ECOSOC umbrella for emergency and early warning.
Mr. SAIGAL identified the need to strengthen institutions to take care of people. A development perspective on the outbreak and its treatment also needed to be taken, he added, noting the UNDP mandate in leading the early recovery. The UNDP Ebola crisis response and resilience programme had three components, namely strengthening coordination and delivery of essential health and basic services, improvement of engagement with communities focusing on vulnerable and at risk groups, and support to recovery and rapid return to sustainable development pathways.
Interactive Dialogue
In the ensuing interactive dialogue, some delegates posed questions on interventions or approaches needed to improve the health care systems and on ways to enhance and deepen coordination between development actors.
Comments from delegations revolved around the impact of Ebola on peacekeeping and peace-building, including security, governance, and social cohesion; on the human and financial resources deployed to fight the outbreak; and on the importance of recovery efforts. Other comments were made on the impact of the crises on private enterprises, as well on the division of labour in dealing with the virus and its economic impact on affected countries.
Mr. NABARRO said he was very thankful for all the support coming from all the countries and he was pleased to hear about the 175 volunteers from Nigeria traveling to the affected area as part of the African Union’s response. He urged that the term Ebola survivors not be used; and to speak of Ebola heroes instead.
Participating in the discussion were the representatives of France, Brazil, Cuba, China, United States, Russian Federation, Sweden, India, Germany, Kazakhstan, Finland, United Kingdom, Colombia, as well as the European Union Delegation.
Also speaking were representatives of the Olaf Palm Peace Fund, Ebola Survival Fund and the New Future Fund.
Closing Statement
Mr. SAJDIK, recapping the half-day debate, commended the African Union’s decision to set up an African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, saying it could be instrumental in helping the region reduce its communicable disease burden, address complex health challenges, and respond to emergency situations. The Centre should be given technical and capacity-building support. Debt relief could help affected countries invest in ways to strengthen their respective national public systems to increase resilience to future health and other development-related emergencies. All stakeholders must continue to work together towards an integrated and coordinated response to the threat posed by Ebola to sustainable development. He invited the United Nations system to conduct a comprehensive study on the economic and social impact of the Ebola outbreak, building on the work done by ECA, the World Bank and UNDP. He also invited Member States to submit additional ideas and proposals for follow-up actions.