- Title: HEALTH-EBOLA/FILE Meeting in Brussels will plan rebuilding of Ebola-hit states
- Date: 2nd March 2015
- Summary: KIKWIT, ZAIRE (FILE - MAY 14, 1995) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) DOCTOR IN PROTECTIVE SUIT STANDING NEXT TO MAN LYING ON THE FLOOR SUFFERING FROM EBOLA WOMAN SUFFERING FROM EBOLA BEING LED INTO KIKWIT GENERAL HOSPITAL WARD/ PATIENTS LYING ON BEDS CLOSE OF MAN'S FACE WHILE LYING ON HOSPITAL BED MAN SUFFERING FROM EBOLA LYING ON BED SUSPECTED EBOLA PATIENTS LYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS MAN SUFFERING FROM EBOLA SITTING ON CHAIR WOMAN SITTING ON CHAIR IN HOSPITAL WARD SUSPECTED EBOLA PATIENTS LYING ON HOSPITAL BEDS
- Embargoed: 17th March 2015 12:00
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- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAKOFKGO09SI5X0ZT956NKSR9
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- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE, THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3
CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES
Governments and international organizations are due to meet on Tuesday (March 3) to work out how to rebuild three West African nations whose economies have been shattered by Ebola.
The number of newly detected cases of Ebola virus infection has been dropping sharply in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia in recent weeks. But the three countries are still reeling from the impact of the outbreak.
The World Bank in January projected they would lose $1.6 billion in income this year, over 12 percent of their combined economic output. Pre-Ebola economic growth forecasts have been slashed.
Sierra Leone, the worst affected by Ebola, has also been hardest hit economically. From 11 percent growth in 2013, its $5 billion economy is forecast to contract 2.5 percent this year.
Liberia's economy is forecast to grow 3 percent this year, despite ArcelorMittal scrapping plans to triple iron ore output due to low prices.
The World Bank expects Guinea's economy to shrink 0.2 percent this year before returning to growth in 2016.
All three countries reported 99 new confirmed Ebola cases in the week to February 22, down from 128 the previous week, the WHO said on Wednesday (February 25).
In all, more than 23,500 cases have been reported in the three West African countries, with more than 9,500 deaths, since the world's worst outbreak of Ebola began in December 2013.
The WHO announced on Friday (February 27) that an independent advisory body would decide in August at the earliest on whether to recommend widespread introduction of an Ebola vaccine, depending on results of clinical trials and the epidemic's course.
All three worst-hit countries in West Africa - Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone - aim to conduct phase III final-stage clinical trials of experimental vaccines.
Liberia is already testing both the GlaxoSmithKline and Merck-NewLink vaccines, while Sierra Leone and Guinea are due to announce plans soon.
Thousands of health care workers and others exposed to the deadly virus have volunteered to take part in the trials, but the question of mass vaccination of wider populations is open.
A steep fall in Ebola cases recorded in Liberia will make it hard to prove whether experimental vaccines work in a major clinical trial, meaning some testing may have to be moved to Sierra Leone, the head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) said in late January. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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