Implementation of emergency grant aid in response to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West African countries, the secondment of an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to UNMEER and the dispatch of a Japanese medical expert through WHO

TOKYO, Japan, December 10, 2014/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- 1. On December 9, the Government of Japan, with a view to preventing further spread of the Ebola virus disease in West African countries, decided to newly extend emergency grant aid of approximately 820 million yen (8.5 million US dollars) to the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Through this emergency grant aid, a total of 700,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) will be sent and distributed to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Mali, and the technical support will be provided for infection prevention and control activities of medical staff in the affected countries.

2. In addition, as part of Japan's contribution of human resources, Dr. Shiro Konuma, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a medical license, will be seconded to the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) until the end of February 2015. He will be working as Senior Adviser on Ebola to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General.

3. Furthermore, Japan also decided to newly dispatch one medical expert to Sierra Leone via the World Health Organization (WHO), for a period of approximately one month from December 14.

4. The Government of Japan will continue to provide seamless support in order to stem the epidemic.