HEALTH: EBOLA Anthony Banbury nasceu em 1964 nos Estados Unidos. Atualmente ele é o representante especial e chefe da Missão das Nações Unidas de Resposta Emergencial ao Ebola (UNMEER).
Anthony Banbury is a man with an unprecedented,
unenviable mission – and he knows it. The head of
the first UN emergency health mission, which was
created in September to fight Ebola, compares the
[5] task to fighting a raging blaze.
“It’s like a forest fire, it keeps spreading and
spreading. And when the firefighters come in,
they get embers on their backs, which fly around
as they try to put [the fire] out,” Banbury said in
[10] an interview in the Ghanaian capital Accra, where
the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response
(Unmeer) is based.
“The biggest challenge we have is to play the role
of complex crisis manager. That’s one of the things
[15] that’s been lacking so far. There has been some
really good work done by national governments,
UN agencies, NGOs and – increasingly – foreign
military, but they are all acting in their certain area,”
he added.
[20] Announcing the creation of Unmeer in mid-
September, the UN secretary general Ban Kimoon
said the unprecedented situation required
“unprecedented steps to save lives and safeguard
peace and security”.
[25] Unmeer has five priorities: stopping the outbreak,
treating the infected, ensuring essential services,
preserving stability and preventing further
outbreaks. To achieve these daunting goals1,
it needs to bring together the full range of UN
[30] actors and expertise to help the national efforts of
countries struggling to control the disease. It will
also work with the African Union and the Economic
Community of West African States, (Ecowas).
Ban has also warned that, as Ebola patients
[35] overwhelm poorly equipped health facilities, other
people are dying from endemic diseases.
“In the three most affected countries – Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone – the disease is destroying
health systems. More people are now dying in
[40] Liberia from treatable ailments2 and common
medical conditions than from Ebola,” he said.
Banbury, an American who has worked for the
White House National Security Council and the
US defence department, as well as with the World
[45] Food Programme, is acutely aware of this ancillary
demand3. He also acknowledges that the crisis is
affecting people’s ability to feed themselves: “We
want to make sure that even as we are working to
stop Ebola, people aren’t starving on the street.”
[50] According to the World Bank, the Ebola outbreak
could cost the economies of west Africa $32.6bn
(£20.1bn) by the end of 2015, devastating fragile
nations still recovering from decades of intertwined,
resource-led wars.
[55] Unmeer will coordinate the arrival of protective gear,
medical supplies, vehicles and generators to the
region. It will also help develop existing healthcare
facilities in the affected countries, including testing
centres, community care facilities4, treatment
[60] centres and training centres for healthcare workers.
“The UN is uniquely positioned to help governments
with the role of complex crisis manager and to do
that across the region; Accra is the perfect place for
us,” Banbury said.
[65] The UN has established a $988m Ebola response
multi-partner trust fund to provide a common,
coherent financing mechanism.
Banbury has already visited the affected countries.
He told reporters in Liberia last week that, despite
[70] “good results”, much remained to be done. He
praised the work of district health officials and
frontline NGO workers.
With the scale of the crisis ever more apparent –
already Ebola has claimed more than 3,800 lives –
[75] Banbury vowed Unmeer was in it for the long haul5.
“We will stay in place for 42 days – twice as long as
the incubation period – after the last case, to make
sure,” he said. “There is a lot of work to do. But we
will not stop until Ebola is stopped.”
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/oct/10/un-emergency-mission-chief-battle-ebola
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