{The African Union (AU) says it hopes this weekend’s meeting of the private sector in Ethiopia will help to raise billions needed to fight the Ebola virus in West Africa. More than 5 000 people have been killed by the virus.}
AU spokesperson Jacob Enoh Eben, says there is a need for huge financial recourses to support the deployment of the assisting volunteers in those countries.
“It is a fight for not only those countries but for the south region, for the continent, international community, government, private sector, civil society and it is a fight for the media.”
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says a vaccine trial for the Ebola virus will start in South Africa early next year.
The organisation made the announcement at the Annual Meeting of the African Vaccine Regulatory Forum in Pretoria on Monday.
WHO spokesperson David Wood, says the first studies have already started in the US, and then moved to UK.
He added that the first trial in Africa happened in Mali and is currently underway.
“In January, February next year, we’re expecting some of these vaccines to be started in some of the current affected neighbouring places like Ghana and Mali again. I think we’re seeing Ebola as more challenging than all of these, is more complicated than Polio, its more deadly than the pandemic influenza, and causing more social disruption.”
SABC
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