Washington -IMF chief Christine Lagarde on
Saturday pleaded with people to remember that
all of Africa has not been hit with the deadly
Ebola epidemic, which remains relatively
isolated in three countries.
With those three West African nations Sierra
Leone, Guinea and Liberia already seeing
their economies crumble because of the disease,
Lagarde emphasized: "We should very be very
careful not to terrify the planet in respect of the
whole of Africa."
"These three countries are severely hit. We are
going to try to give them as much support as
we can; the big urgency is to stop it, contain
it."
"But it's not the whole of Africa," she stressed.
"Businesses have to continue, the economies of
all the others countries have to keep on working
and creating jobs."
To underscore the message, Lagarde was
wearing a large button on her lapel declaring
"Isolate Ebola, Not Countries", which was given
to her by Guinea's President Alpha Conde.
The call came as the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank
were wrapping up in Washington.
Ebola was singled out as a pressing threat
during the meetings, and both institutions
pressed the world for stronger, faster efforts to
combat the disease.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 4,000
people in just a few months, nearly all in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Earlier in the day, Sierra Leone's finance
minister Kaifala Marah said the epidemic was
isolating the three hardest-hit countries, with
devastating economic consequences.
"Everybody is running away from Ebola... By
default or design, it really is an economic
embargo," he said.
Saturday pleaded with people to remember that
all of Africa has not been hit with the deadly
Ebola epidemic, which remains relatively
isolated in three countries.
With those three West African nations
Leone, Guinea and Liberia
their economies crumble because of the disease,
Lagarde emphasized: "We should very be very
careful not to terrify the planet in respect of the
whole of Africa."
"These three countries are severely hit. We are
going to try to give them as much support as
we can; the big urgency is to stop it, contain
it."
"But it's not the whole of Africa," she stressed.
"Businesses have to continue, the economies of
all the others countries have to keep on working
and creating jobs."
To underscore the message, Lagarde was
wearing a large button on her lapel declaring
"Isolate Ebola, Not Countries", which was given
to her by Guinea's President Alpha Conde.
The call came as the annual meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank
were wrapping up in Washington.
Ebola was singled out as a pressing threat
during the meetings, and both institutions
pressed the world for stronger, faster efforts to
combat the disease.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 4,000
people in just a few months, nearly all in
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Earlier in the day, Sierra Leone's finance
minister Kaifala Marah said the epidemic was
isolating the three hardest-hit countries, with
devastating economic consequences.
"Everybody is running away from Ebola... By
default or design, it really is an economic
embargo," he said.
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