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Risk of food shortages in Ebola-hit West Africa

by Plan UK | Plan UK
Tuesday, 21 July 2015 09:54 GMT

Food distribution in Macenta, Guinea

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* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

About 7.5 million people across Ebola-hit West Africa face food shortages this summer, warns children’s charity Plan International.

The World Health Organisation puts the number of dead at 11,261 since the outbreak began in March 2014.

Survivors are struggling to recover as family farmers, unable to tend their crops, watch their livelihoods disappear.

It comes as the African Union hosts a two-day Ebola recovery and reconstruction conference in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea.

“Ebola continues to have a negative impact on food security, nutrition and livelihoods,” says Plan’s Ebola response manager Damien Queally.

“There are worrying indications of a significant malnutrition caseload of children under five.”

The three main affected countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, reported 26 news cases between them in the first week of July.

Aid workers report Ebola control efforts impaired by rains, while a deadly and more contagious measles outbreak is feared.

The rainy season also poses an increased risk of cholera and malaria which complicates the Ebola response as some symptoms are similar.

Education has been hit hard with schools shut during the height of the outbreak – leaving five million children without access to learning.

Plan is distributing food and essential household items to quarantined families, while also running a centre for children orphaned by Ebola.

“Our strategy is to prevent transmission, reduce mortality and provide health and humanitarian assistance to people infected and populations at risk,” says Mr Queally.

“We’re also preventing and responding to violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation of children at risk.”

For more information on Plan’s work or to make a donation call 0800 526 848 or visit www.plan-uk.org

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