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West African ministers call for an end to Ebola travel bans
Ministers in West Africa have called for Ebola-related travel bans in the region to be lifted.
At a meeting of the Economic Community of West African States in Ghana, they said the bans, imposed to limit the spread of the Ebola virus, were causing food and supply shortages.
"Excessive restrictions of travel and border closures will adversely affect the economies of the sub-region," said Ghana's President John Mahama at the meeting.
They added that, if anything, the bans were actually hampering efforts to contain the virus.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already said it is important for airlines to resume “vital” flights across the region, because travel bans are threatening efforts to beat the epidemic.
"This is not a West African issue or an African issue. This is a global health security issue," WHO's assistant director-general Bruce Aylward said at a conference in Geneva yesterday.
He recommended instead that extra screening measures should be put in place to prevent the virus spreading to countries beside the four currently affected.
The outbreak began in Guinea in February, and has since spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria. Other West African countries, including the Ivory Coast and Senegal, have responded to the crisis by banning all flights to and from the afflicted countries.
According to figures released by WHO on 22 August, the current outbreak has killed a confirmed 844 people. Earlier this month, the UN's health agency described the scale of the crisis as “vastly underestimated” and authorised the use of experimental drugs to treat the virus.
There is currently no licensed vaccine or specific treatment available for the disease, but a number of companies are racing to develop a cure.