G20 leaders issue statement on fighting Ebola
Date 2014/11/15 16:25:32 | Topic: Africa
|  Leaders of the world's most powerful economies have committed to provide all essential services to combat the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
G20 members issued a statement to seriously tackle the problem during their summit in Brisbane, Australia. The two-day summit kicked off on Saturday.
The statement sets the goals of stopping the outbreak of the disease, treating the infected, preserving stability and preventing further outbreaks.
"We will share our experiences of successfully fighting Ebola with our partners, including to promote safe conditions and training for health care and relief workers," the leaders said.
"We will work to expedite the effective and targeted disbursement of funds and other assistance, balancing between emergency and longer-term needs," the statement continued.
G20 members also announced that they would step up their response to the crisis through "bilateral, regional and multilateral channels, and in partnership with non-governmental stakeholders".
They also urged the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to continue their support for affected countries like Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, through a combination of concessional loans, debt relief and grants.
"We ask the IMF and World Bank to explore new, flexible mechanisms to address the economic effects of future comparable crises," the G20 leaders said.
The World Health Organization announced that 5,177 people out of 14,413 cases of infection had so far died of Ebola across eight countries since late December 2013. West Africa is mostly affected by the epidemic.
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