Call for post-Ebola recovery plan to prevent double disaster

Africa, Campaigns and Advocacy, Emergencies, Humanitarian Advocacy, Media Releases, News article written on the 27 Jan 2015

International aid agency Oxfam is calling on the Australian Government and the international community to develop a multi-million dollar post-Ebola recovery plan to put the West Africa countries hit by the crisis back on their feet.

While reductions in the number of new Ebola cases in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone have given cause for optimism, stopping infections will not spell the end of the crisis. Economies need to be restarted, jobs and incomes are urgently needed and health services need to be rebuilt to ensure people do not fall further into poverty.

Humanitarian Advocacy Lead Ben Murphy said that the international community, including Australia, needed to act now to put the countries’ economies on an inclusive growth plan. While welcoming Australia’s contribution of $45 million to the Ebola response, he said the government should do more to prevent knock on effects of the disease afflicting its survivors.

“Australia cannot walk away now when people are still at risk of sliding into double-disaster. The world was late in waking up to the Ebola crisis, there can be no excuses for not helping to put these economies and lives back together.”

Oxfam is pushing for an international pledging conference to agree recovery plans backed by generous support from rich countries to help efforts to rebuild lives and put the economies back on the road to growth.

People in affected countries are struggling to make ends meet as their incomes plummet. Oxfam’s research in three Liberian counties found that 73 per cent of families have seen their incomes decline, with an average income drop of 39 percent.

One of the effects of lost income is an inability to buy food. Oxfam found 60 percent of people said they had not had enough food in the past seven days. One in four said this was due to a decline in income, one in five said because of high food prices.  To cope with this, people have been relying on the generosity of friends and relatives, choosing less expensive food, limiting portion sizes, reducing the number of meals eaten a day and restricting adult consumption in order to allow children to eat.

Since the Ebola outbreak the World Bank estimates nearly 180,000 people have lost their jobs in Sierra Leone and in Liberia half of heads of household are out of work. In Liberia, the World Bank found that job losses fell disproportionately on women with more women losing their jobs than men. The loss of income is exacerbated by rises in the price of food. In Liberia the price of rice has risen 40 percent above its seasonal average.

Poverty rates in Ebola-hit countries were already high. In Sierra Leone 56 per cent of the population were living under the poverty line, some 64 per cent were under the poverty line in Liberia and 40 per cent in Guinea.

“People need cash in their hands now, they need good jobs to feed their families in the near future and decent health, education and other essential services. They’ve gone through hell, they cannot be left high and dry,” Mr Murphy said.

“Australia should participate fully in any recovery pledging conferences or appeals to do everything they can to reduce secondary impacts.”

Oxfam is planning to increase its work to help communities recover from the crisis while still maintaining its Ebola prevention work. It is planning to give substantial cash grants to vulnerable families and rehabilitate water and sanitation facilities.

So far in its response to the Ebola crisis Oxfam has helped 650,000 people in Sierra Leone, 445,000 in Liberia, and 33,000 in Mali.  It has helped a further 15,000 people with preventative work in Guinea Bissau, Gambia, and Senegal.

Oxfam is planning to increase its work to help communities recover from the crisis while still maintaining its Ebola prevention work. It is planning to give substantial cash grants to vulnerable families and rehabilitate water and sanitation facilities.

So far in its response to the Ebola crisis Oxfam has helped 650,000 people in Sierra Leone, 445,000 in Liberia, and 33,000 in Mali.  It has helped a further 15,000 people with preventative work in Guinea Bissau, Gambia, and Senegal.

To support Oxfam’s Ebola Appeal call 1800 034 034 or visiting www.oxfam.org.au/ebola

For interviews or more information, please contact Angus Hohenboken on 0428 367 318 or angush@oxfam.org.au