ECOWAS Gender Ministers Want Total Ebola Eradication For Normal Life

ECOWAS Ministers of Gender and Women's Affairs have declared their commitment to fight for the complete eradication of the Ebola Virus Disease(EVD) and for the return to normal life in the ECOWAS region.

In a communique adopted at a high-level meeting of the Ministers on Friday on the sidelines of the 59th session of the Commission on the Status of Women(CSW) in New York, under the theme "Gender and Ebola,Impacts of the Diseases on West African Women" they expressed their support for the member states, ECOWAS and the development partners in the effort that they are making in the fight against EVD.

The Ministers also requested ECOWAS, the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response(UNMEER), Africa Union, and other partners to actively involve and regularly consult the national gender promotion mechanisms in the framework of the actions to be carried out for a response against the EVD in the short, medium and long terms.

In this vein, the communique called for a universal immunization coverage against the EVD in the affected countries, apart from highlighting in particular the protection and care of the highly exposed female medical staff.

Among others. the Ministers called for the upgrading of the health systems of all the West African region, particularly in the Ebola affected countries to ensure permanent resilience to these type of scourges, by stressing the necessity to take care of the widows and orphans' social needs.

The communique asked for the maintenance of the sanitary measures in force at the borders and in the public places and carrying out a permanent awareness campaign through women's groups and organizations for the adoption of sustainable hygienic behaviours.

Ghana's Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Nana Oye Lithur, chair of the ECOWAS Ministers noted that the Ebola outbreak has caused so much humanitarian disaster, displaced many people and created a wave of orphans and also negatively impacted the economic fortunes of affected countries and the sub-region as a whole.

"Ebola response should address the needs of women and harness our leadership roles as caregivers, change agents and community leaders. It is vital that women are equipped with requisite knowledge on Ebola, so that they are able to support the Ebola prevention programmes", she noted.

To this end, Nana Oye Lithur requested that the planning , programming, procurement, management, community programmes and recovery processes be made gender sensitive and participatory. In this wise, she added that gender disaggregated data should be collected at all times.

The Minister recalled a meeting of the ECOWAS minsters in Dakar, Senegal last year on "Gender Equality and Sustainable Development" and repeated their declaration for the immediate and unconditional release of the 200 Chibok girls and other abducted persons in Northern Nigeria.

To achieve all these demands, Nana Oye Lithur expressed the commitment of his colleague Ministers to prioritize gender equality and sustain progress in fulfilling the gender agenda.

Before the communique was adopted there was a presentation on Gender and Ebola by Dr. Fatimata Sow, ECOWAS Commissioner Social Affairs and another one on UN Support for the AU and ECOWAS in the Ebola Recovery Process-Gender dimension by the Special Advisor on Africa, Mr. Maged Abdelaziz and interventions by the affected countries.