Chairpersons,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Participants,

Dear Colleagues,

Introduction

On the occasion of this august gathering in Brussels to address the outstanding issues of the Ebola (2014) outbreak in West Africa, I would like to  applaud the extraordinary and generous response of the international community, the (a) leadership of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf -- and the extraordinary courage and dedication of local and other health workers. Let us also recognize the leadership of WHO and the UN; and the generous financial and other support of the international community, in particular the USA, the EU and its member states, in particular, Germany, and the UK, among many others. 

This leadership and support enabled open, constructive collaboration and mutual support of all in the Global Ebola Response.  The call for an international response against the Ebola Virus Disease also prompted IOM to mobilize resources organization-wide -- resources that enabled us to have the honour of contributing in our own modest way through a series of significant activities; including (1) in Liberia, opening the first three Ebola treatment units (ETUs), and the recruitment, training and management of staff, social mobilization for disease awareness and prevention; (2) in Sierra Leone, recruitment, training and management of health care providers and support staff; and management of the Ebola Training Academy in Freetown;  emergency care kits to save lives and prevent disease spread; systems support in health and public health services; (3) in Guinea, emergency operations centres throughout the country, disease contact tracing, small grants management, and cross border management and health for health security at Guinea’s land and air ports of arrival and departure. But our work on eradicating Ebola is far from finished.

Getting to Zero

I have come to this forum, to express and re-confirm IOM’s commitment to “get to zero” in terms of Ebola cases while also engaging in the transition to resilient systems in recovery; “to build back better” for the peoples of West Africa.

When Dr. Margaret Chan, DG of WHO declared Ebola (2014) a “public health emergency of international concern” (a PHEIC), she set in motion the international response to help the Moa River states to contain, control, and eliminate the disease.  I wish to make three points.

I. What We Found

The magnitude of Ebola (2014) outbreak was related to the confluence of several now well-known realities: (1) the introduction of a deadly disease into an environment of social and cultural beliefs that accelerated virus transmission; (2) a poorly prepared health and public health environment lacking in care facilities, surveillance systems, emergency operations centres, diagnostic confirmatory laboratories, and rapid response team capability; (3) an international community already coping with an unprecedented series of other complex, simultaneous humanitarian emergencies; and (4) the factor of human mobility.  

But what was really different in West Africa compared to other Ebola and viral haemorrhagic disease outbreaks was the factor of human mobility.  The break fire like spread of disease across communities, between countries, into cities and internationally, was fundamentally that of the human characteristic of being mobile: being mobile for markets, for work, for family, for all the reasons that people move.  Understanding population mobility remains essential to the understanding of EVD and indeed the international movement of transmissible diseases of all natures; including pandemic diseases.  Addressing health and other basic needs of mobile populations is the work of IOM.

From the declaration of the PHEIC, the world watched the devastating effects of EVD in West Africa on people, all governmental systems including health and security in finance and food, and more. The international concern spawned a response that spanned from the rush to humanitarian assistance to avoidance of the region. Unfortunately, the response of far too many governments was too wish the problem away by shutting down the airways and put everyone in quarantine who had set foot in Africa.

II. What We Did

To achieve the WHO PHEIC goals of disease elimination required multi-sector efforts, partnerships, and resource dedication based on strong leadership, foundational planning, and a commitment to accountability.  IOM is ready to commit to its Ebola response activities to “get to zero cases”, in particular those that will now contribute to that end:  the cross-border health programmes, training of response workers particularly in case detection and contact tracing, and systems support in disaster risk management such as Emergency Operations Centres and access to primary care centres.

III. What We Learned

Those of us gathered here today – indeed the entire international community – are challenged to act on our current investments – to start the process to transition, stabilization, and resiliency in all systems in support of health:  in short, we need to “build back better”; to stay the course.

IOM is committed to using its experience, to gain from the lessons learned during Ebola (2014), to mobilize and best use resources; including the partnerships strengthened during this year of disease outbreak, to “build back better” for the West Africa Region. We must not pack up and leave; rather we in the international community must remain to work with the people and governments of West Africa to help them to build reliable health systems.