The Ghana government has started air-lifting humanitarian food relief items to Ebola-hit countries in the West African sub-region – Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
Chief of Staff, Prosper Bani who revealed this at a ceremony at the Airforce base in Accra, said the donation forms part of Ghana’s contribution to help fight Ebola in West Africa.
The deadly Ebola disease has so far killed more than 4,500 people in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.
[contextly_sidebar id=”cJ3UvkmNprPZcHTvO4PDrqOZoCExtyUt”]“The items had been shipped and airlifted to these countries a couple of weeks ago and today we are continuing with further airlifting of the items,” Mr. Bani said.
According to him, the items include; 1,000 bags of rice each to those countries, 300 boxes of milk, cocoa products and cooking oil.
“As you all know, President Mahama has been leading the response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa and globally. He has committed after visiting Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea to provide some urgent humanitarian assistance to victims of Ebola in these countries,” he added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that the figure could reach 20,000 by November if efforts to tackle the outbreak were not stepped up.
Prosper Bani also disclosed that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has contributed three (3) million dollars each to affected countries to support their logistical, health and socio-economic challenges that they are facing as a result of the spread of the Ebola disease.
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By:Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/citifmonline.com/Ghana