West Africa: Ebola

Baroness Hayman Excerpts

Monday 19th October 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, the noble Lord is right to say that we need to work at many levels. The noble Lord, Lord Giddens, asked about the work and the commitment of major investors such as the International Monetary Fund. While this work must be done at several levels, I agree that we need to work at local level with civil society and local communities to ensure that they can recognise the situation and respond. The work we have done to date shows the effort we have put in trying to reach a zero rate of Ebola cases. It is important to note that this will be an ongoing, long-term recovery. We are one of the partner countries, and we have led on this issue in Sierra Leone. We now need to ensure that, at all levels, we commit to and retain sustainable, long-term development.

[Baroness Hayman (CB)]

My Lords, I echo what was said about the long-term health consequences for survivors of Ebola here and in the countries affected. One thing that would help economic reconstruction would be the resumption of direct flights to Freetown from this country. Will the Government urgently reconsider their position on this issue? In February of this year, I saw for myself how much co-ordination was needed in the different areas of work to help in the fight at the height of the epidemic. Exactly that sort of co-operation will be needed for the long term. Can the Minister reassure me that the processes are in place to co-ordinate and complement the different agencies and government initiatives from this country that will be there for the long term?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, initially, the noble Baroness asked about direct flights. The Government introduced a ban on direct flights to Sierra Leone when the number of cases increased rapidly. We continue to keep the situation under review but, ultimately, the safety of the British public has to be at the heart of any decision on the resumption of flights. On greater collaboration, we are working closely with the President on his recovery strategy, and with other agencies on the ground.