SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS DAVID NABARRO AS SPECIAL ENVOY FOR EBOLA AND ANTHONY BANBURY AS SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE AND HEAD OF THE UNITED NATIONS MISSION FOR EBOLA EMERGENCY RESPONSE (UNMEER)

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of David Nabarro of the United Kingdom as his Special Envoy for Ebola and Anthony Banbury as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

These appointments follow the unanimous adoption of General Assembly resolution 69/1 on 19 September, and the adoption of Security Council resolution 2177 on the Ebola outbreak. They are made following close consultations with Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization.

In his vital role as Special Envoy for Ebola, Dr. Nabarro will provide strategic and policy direction for a greatly enhanced international response and will galvanize essential support for affected communities and countries.

Under Mr. Banbury's leadership, UNMEER, the new Mission, will provide the operational framework and unity of purpose to ensure the rapid, effective and coherent action necessary to stop the Ebola outbreak, to treat the infected, to ensure essential services, to preserve stability and to prevent the spread to countries currently unaffected.

Dr. Nabarro and Mr. Banbury will work closely in support of the governments in the region, and other partners, in pursuit of these critical objectives.

Dr. Nabarro has more than 30 years' experience of public health, nutrition and development work at country, regional and global levels, and has held positions in non-governmental organizations, universities, national Governments and the United Nations system. He serves as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Food Security and Nutrition and Coordinator of the SUN Movement. Dr. Nabarro's other recent positions include Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza from 2005 to 2014 and coordinator of the UN's High Level Task Force on Global Food Security from 2009 to 2014. Last month he was appointed as Senior UN Coordinator for Ebola.

Mr. Banbury brings more than 25 years of experience in political, peacekeeping, and emergency management roles across several different regions and organizations. He has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support since June 2009. He also served as Acting Deputy Special Representative in MINUSTAH after the 2010 earthquake, and was the Asia Regional Director for the World Food Progamme in Bangkok from 2003 to 2009, where he managed humanitarian relief and development operations in 14 countries. He also was an integral part of the relief operations for the 2004 tsunami and the 2008 Cyclone Nargis.

New York, 23 September 2014
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