Activities of Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ related to 2014/2204(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Ebola crisis: long-term lessons (debate) ES
Amendments (18)
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the disease has claimed 6 3878 981 lives in the region1 ; __________________ 1 WHO data as at 10 December04 February 20145.
Amendment 11 #
Draft opinion
Recital B
Recital B
B. whereas the outbreak is the largest ever, and is currently affecting fourthree countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and Mali), while outbreaks in Mali, Nigeria and Senegal have been declared to be over, and a separate outbreak in the DRC has also ended;
Amendment 35 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital E
Recital E
E. whereas the Ebola crisis has resulted in another problem which Médecins Sans Frontières has referred to as 'a crisis within a crisis', namely that people with conditions other than Ebola are not going to hospital for fear that they will be infected with the virus; and at the same time hospitals and health staff have no capacity to deal with other diseases due to the resources mobilized to fight the Ebola epidemic;
Amendment 55 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L a (new)
Recital L a (new)
La. whereas access to medicines is a key part of the right to health;
Amendment 56 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital L b (new)
Recital L b (new)
Lb. whereas 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to the vaccines or treatments they need to stay alive and healthy;
Amendment 57 #
Draft opinion
Recital G
Recital G
G. whereas clinical tritaking into account that according to the Directorate-Generals for different treatmentresearch and innovation the European Commission has mobilized around 180 million euro since September 2014, clinical trials for the first vaccines should be starting soon in West Africa;
Amendment 91 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. Considers that the response of the Member States and the Commission has been slow and insufficient, and that financial support was shy and did not respond to the severity of the alerts that NGOs such as Médecins Sans Frontières and others have launched since April 2014, one month after the beginning of the epidemic; considers that the scaling-up of the Commission’'s financial commitment should be stronger in terms of humanitarian and development aid to respond to the crisis; considers it necessary to increase the availability and the volume of financial resources;
Amendment 98 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls for the establishment of a European rapid response capability comprising experts, laboratory support staff, epidemiologists and logistics facilities that can be deployed extremely swiftly; draws attention in particular to the contribution the EU can make to screening at land and maritime borders and to the fact that the Union could seek to emulate and benefit from the level of excellence achieved by the US health authorities in screening at airports;
Amendment 107 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Urges the Commission to help the three countries affected to develop their own public health systems in order for them to be able to meet basic healthcare needs and to build up the infrastructure required to ensure that all their citizens have access to public healthcare; calls on international donors, especially the European Commission and EU Member States to increase Official Development Assistance (ODA) to those countries through country systems such as budget support to build resilient health systems, including support countries to plan, cost and establish functioning health posts and district hospitals that serve health needs and that also connect with referral systems;
Amendment 111 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Stresses, in general, the need for developing countries to give budgetary priority to setting up robust public social security and public health systems, building sufficient numbers of well- equipped sustainable healthcare infrastructure (in particular laboratories, water and sanitation facilities) and offering high-quality basic services and healthcare; Nevertheless, acknowledges that crisis such as the current cannot be solved by health system alone, but a comprehensive approach involving different sectors such as education and training, sanitation, food safety, drinking water, is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; at the same time that stresses that education, covering the cultural dimensions and beliefs are key as well in the recovery;
Amendment 117 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)
Paragraph 6 a (new)
6a. Stresses that the long-term costed plans needed to build resilient and comprehensive health systems must further include an adequate number of trained health workers, access to sufficient medical supplies and robust health information systems;
Amendment 123 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Congratulates the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), partner organisations and non-governmental humanitarian organisations, such as Médecins Sans Frontières and others, for their work done on the ground and warmly welcomes their extensive input and help in controlling this outbreak;
Amendment 126 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Calls for research infrastructure to be bolstered by the establishment of a regional public infection disease research centre in West Africa;
Amendment 128 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Supports the introduction of universal health cover free at the point of use based on partnerships that will result in sustainable health systems; stresses, in this regard, that investment in a strong public sector delivering an equitable and quality service is essential to providing universal health coverage and to ensuring that people living in poverty, unable to access public healthcare, do not have to rely on and pay for dubious quality services;
Amendment 145 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Believes that access to medicines should, as a matter of principle,must no longer be dependent on patients' purchasing power but should instead be universal and geared to patients' needs, and that market forces should not be the sole determinant of which medicines to produce; and that R&D financing must be unlinked from the price of products that result from it; stresses that the Ebola crisis proved the intellectual property monopolies on pharmaceutical products which allowed companies to set the prices of the new medicines and vaccines they develop and skew R&D in order to maximise their profits; highlights that these rules stem from the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS); calls on the EU and its Member States to endorse a Research & Development treaty which promotes public funding for R&D and is focused on the needs of public health in order to provide vaccines, diagnostics and medicines for diseases such as Ebola;
Amendment 146 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Call the European Union and its member states to fulfilling with the EU´s Policy Coherence for Development principle set on FTEU Article 208 though the promotion of fair and equitable international trade, medical research and innovation policies that foster and facilitate universal access to medicines;
Amendment 152 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18 a (new)
Paragraph 18 a (new)
18a. Underlines the need for the EU, its Member States, donors and international agencies to build on the experiences from Ebola outbreaks in other countries that highlight a series of key factors to control diseases, including effective health systems, rapid government action, meaningful community participation, use of media to disseminate information and rapid coordinated international response; urges governments to enable civil society to play their role in ensuring accountability and transparency by all stakeholders and to foster trust among communities by ensuring their participation in decision-making at the highest political level;
Amendment 152 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Encourages taking immediate action to coordinate andCalls on the Commission to strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vacpolicines against Ebola and to carry out scrupulous infection controlnot only ebola, but also some other illnesses that cause a high number of deaths in Africa;