2014/2204(INI) | [ParlTrack]

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas its resolution of 18 September 20141 recognised that women are disproportionately affected by the Ebola virus disease (EVD), with women accounting for, on average, 55 to 75 per cent of all victims; whereas evidence suggests that pregnant women are hit particularly hard, whilst infected by the virus with death tolls close to 100 per cent but also given their vulnerability to and fear of infection through maternal health care; __________________ 1 Texts adopted, P8_TA(2014)0026.

Amendment 10 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas Ebola frequently causes pregnant women to miscarry, since when an expectant mother falls ill, it is rare that she is able to continue with the pregnancy.

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas there is a high risk that breast-feeding mothers will transmit the disease to their children, and whereas in such cases unwell mothers should be helped to make the transition to bottle feeding;

Amendment 12 #

Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas obtaining treatment is problematic for pregnant women, owing to the invasive nature of that treatment,

Amendment 13 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas mother and child health has been protected in combatting Ebola by polio workers assisting in the emergency response in Nigeria; in Nigeria the Ebola virus was brought under control in part due to replication of the emergency operation centres set up to fight polio;

Amendment 14 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas women in healthcare systems are not only vulnerable, but due to the role that they play in society are also key actors in containing EVD, for example as nurses, cleaners or laundry workers in hospitals, and in raising awareness about EVD, planning responses to it and promoting prevention strategies in their communities;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas the region suffers from a lack of doctors, because a significant proportion of African doctors trained in Africa or in the Union pursue their careers in one of the Member States and are not therefore able to carry out their duties among women in need of care, particularly during pregnancy, labour and the post-partum period, but also in paediatrics;

Amendment 16 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas female nurses represent the majority of health staff who have been infected and died from the virus. The humanitarian crisis has put a drain on healthcare facilities, equipment and personnel - drawing already scarce resources away from pregnant women. The lack of access by women, especially pregnant women, to reproductive health services is a major health disaster in waiting2a; __________________ 2a.http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/storie s/2014/9/ebola-outbreak-takes-its-toll-on- women

Amendment 17 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas women are the primary care- givers at home and in the community in most of African societies and that it is sisters, daughters, aunts, mothers and grandmothers who have cared the most for relatives infected with Ebola putting themselves at great risk;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas for safety reasons it is recommended that women do not have sexual relations for around a year after infection, even once they have recovered, but sometimes find themselves forced to do so due to the culture and traditions of many communities, in particular in many developing countries;

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Recital C b (new)

Cb. whereas the widespread confusion and the prevailing misunderstanding about the causes and consequences of Ebola that perpetuated the spread of the virus;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas women are not only more likely to be infected but their education, healthcare, food security and livelihood are also suffering;

Amendment 20 #

Draft opinion
Recital C c (new)

Cc. whereas families who eat bushmeat and hunters who touch infected wild animals or their blood are rarely aware of any risk associated with consumption and processing;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas EVD is not only a public health catastrophe but has also long-lasting psychological, social and economic effects on women and girls; whereas following the death of a relative, ~~the stigma~~rumours and fear surrounding EVD for women and girls persists, e.g. in terms of inheritance rights and as orphans, while the closing down of schools risks creating a “lost generation” of children deprived of formal education for long periods of time and also increases the risks of teenage pregnancy, child marriage and violence against women;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas EVD is not only a public health catastrophe but has also long-lasting psychological, social and economic effects on women and girls in particular; whereas following the death of a relative, the stigma for women and girls persists, e.g. in terms of inheritance rights and as orphans, while the closing down of schools also increases the risks of teenage pregnancy, child marriage and violence against women;

Amendment 23 #

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas many female survivors experience difficulties in reintegrating themselves in their families and their communities and may face repudiation and stigmatisation;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas it is mostly women who perform the funeral rituals when their relatives die of Ebola;

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Recital D b (new)

Db. whereas in households where children have been orphaned, it is likely that girls will have to drop out of school to assume the role of the care-giver;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Recital D c (new)

Dc. whereas women who are too afraid of contamination stop seeking medical care and family planning services;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Recital D d (new)

Dd. whereas Ebola infections in Africa have been associated with hunting, butchering and processing meat, "bushmeat", from infected wild animals such as bats and monkeys;

Amendment 28 #

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas European emergency aid in the case of the Ebola pandemic could have been better on account of the lack of rapid technical assistance on the ground, the unwillingness of the Member States to cooperate and inadequate central EU coordination;

Amendment 29 #

Anna ZÁBORSKÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls on the international community, in formulating its response strategies, to address the realities facing women and girls, and underlines the importance of ~~gender-balanced health specialist teams and the availability of~~making sex-disaggregated data and research available;

Amendment 3 #

Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ, Barbara MATERA

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. whereas there is a risk of women being infected through sexual activity after the epidemic has been officially declared over, since the virus may be present in the semen of a man who has been cured for up to 90 days after his recovery;

Amendment 30 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Calls on the international community~~Acknowledges the role played by the international community in combatting EVD and calls on it, in formulating its further response strategies, to address the realities facing women and girls~~, and~~; underlines the importance of gender- balanced health specialist teams and the availability of sex-disaggregated data and research;

Amendment 31 #

Barbara MATERA, Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ, Teresa JIMÉNEZ-BECERRIL BARRIO

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls on the international community, in formulating its response strategies, to address the realities facing women and girls, and underlines the importance of gender-balanced health specialist teams and the availability of sex-disaggregated data and research; stresses to consider necessary the promotion of initiatives aimed at ensuring greater psychological and health support for women infected with the virus as a result of the patients' care;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls on the international community, in formulating its response strategies, to address the realities facing women and girls, and underlines the importance of gender-balanced health specialist teams, only for those professions and activities where women are overrepresented and therefore overexposed, and the availability of sex-disaggregated data and research;

Amendment 33 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Calls on the international community, in formulating its response strategies, to address the realities facing women and girls through targeted actions, and underlines the importance of gender- balanced health specialist teams and the availability of sex-disaggregated data and research;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Believes women are more likely to allow their families to be cared for by trained professionals and may persuade their male relatives to avoid bushmeat hunting, eating or handling or, should it be impossible, to cook it thoroughly;

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 b (new)

1b. Calls on the European Union and the Member States to fund training programmes specifically designed for women to raise awareness of the disease;

Amendment 36 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Calls on the international community to promote information and education campaigns to make women aware of unsafe practices which should be avoided, and to spread accurate information which limits the risk of infection but at the same time does not interfere with local customs;

Amendment 37 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 c (new)

1c. Stresses that women empowerment should involve women in designing projects and decision-making locally, as building human capacity now, especially for women and girls, will help reconstruct their societies;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Invites the scientific community of the Member States to conduct research into the possible and persistent transmission of the virus as a sexually transmitted disease;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Believes that the negative effect of disintegrating health systems on maternal health is of major concern, given th~~e declining availability of beds and the risk that (future) mothers will~~at the arrival of a child is unique as a medical treatment that cannot be deferred and pregnant women are inevitably on the forefront when it comes to the declining availability of beds and to refraining from going to hospitals when necessary in fear of infection, and to refraining from going to hospitals when necessary in fear of infection; emphasises that the same negative perceptions keeps other patients at home in the hands of female caregivers;

Amendment 4 #

Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ, Barbara MATERA

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas women and girls are particularly exposed to EVD because of their roles as principal caregivers, health workers dealing with childbirth, maternal patients or as those handling corpses before burial rites, and as smallholder farmers or cross-border traders confronted by a decline in food production and closed borders, taking away their income, putting them behind in payments for microcredit loans, but also causing steep increases in food prices and ultimately making it more difficult for women to feed their families;

Amendment 40 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Believes that the negative effect of disintegrating health systems on maternal health is of major concern, given the declining availability of beds and the risk that (future) mothers will ~~refrain~~be hindered from going to hospitals when necessary or later refrain from doing so; emphasises, th~~at the same~~erefore, that such negative perceptions keep patients at home in the hands of female caregivers;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Believes that the negative effect of disintegrating health systems on maternal health is of major concern, given the declining availability of beds and the risk that (future) mothers will refrain from going to hospitals when necessary; insists on the need to invest in measures targeted at pregnant women, in order to provide them with adequate care and to build trust between female patients and caregivers; asks the Commission and the Member States to provide financial support for these efforts; emphasises that the same negative perceptions keep patients at home in the hands of female caregivers;

Amendment 42 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Believes that the negative effect of disintegrating health systems on maternal health is of major concern, given the declining availability of beds and the risk that (future) mothers will refrain from going to hospitals when necessary; emphasises that the same negative perceptions keep patients at home in the hands of female caregivers; calls on the Commission and the EU Member States to implement gender budgeting in all EU relevant funding, prioritising funding for women, children, and sexual and reproductive health and rights;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Believes that the negative effect - amplified in rural areas in particular - of disintegrating health systems on maternal health is of major concern, given the declining availability of beds, lack of trained staff and the risk that (future) mothers will refrain from going to hospitals when necessary; emphasises that the same negative perceptions keep patients at home in the hands of female caregivers;

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Suggests organisations working to combat the Ebola outbreak to employ various modes of communication - including community dialogue, radio and television where available - to involve women in the effort to raise public awareness about the disease;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Stresses the need for innovative, mobile systems to guarantee care in urban and rural areas throughout the region and calls for specific funding for the training and employment of nurses, community health workers and midwives by the EU;

Amendment 46 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Requests the implementation of an incentive programme to assist the return of African doctors who are trained at European universities or who practise in the Member States, so that healthcare provision remains accessible to this particularly fragile population;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Considers it essential that, when the large-scale vaccination campaign gets under way, priority is given to women, who are the primary victims, caregivers and often responsible for educating the children;

Amendment 48 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Supports the promotion of prophylactic treatments to prevent infection, with a particular focus on women;

Amendment 49 #

Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ, Barbara MATERA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Calls on the international community to allocate funding specifically for the reinforcement of local facilities and resources put in place expressly to help women;

Amendment 5 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas women and girls are particularly exposed to EVD because of their roles as principal caregivers, maternal patients or as those handling corpses before burial rites, and they are severely affected as smallholder farmers or cross-border traders confronted by a decline in food production and closed borders;

Amendment 50 #

Ivan JAKOVČIĆ, Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Considers it necessary that adequate resources are also allocated to the fight against other types of diseases which are particularly dangerous for pregnant women, such as malaria;

Amendment 51 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Stresses that ~~innovative~~clear and unambiguous responses are needed that acknowledge the role of women as key actors in protecting their families and communities and in breaking the chains of transmission, including measures to engage women’s organisations in schemes to provide information on the importance of health- care and EVD-related precautions, to train EVD-survivors as nurses, cleaners and laundry workers, as well as to ensure equal protection of all hospital staff;

Amendment 52 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Stresses that innovative responses are needed that acknowledge the role of women as key actors in protecting their families and communities and in breaking the chains of transmission, to stimulate recovery, including measures to engage women’s organisations in schemes to provide information on the importance of health-care and sessions that address EVD-related precautions for women and girls, to train EVD-survivors as nurses, cleaners and laundry workers, as well as to ensure equal protection of all hospital staff;

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

3. Stresses that innovative responses are needed that acknowledge the role of women as key actors in protecting their families and communities and in breaking the chains of transmission, including measures to engage women’s organisations in schemes to provide information on the importance of health-care and EVD-related precautions, to train EVD-survivors as nurses, cleaners and laundry workers, as well as to ensure equal protection of all hospital staff; also stresses the importance of providing men and women with detailed information about sexual and reproductive health, in particular the risks associated with sexual intercourse after recovery;

Amendment 54 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Encourages the governments involved to take the necessary measures to combat the stigmatisation and isolation of women and girls when a family member dies and to ensure that their fundamental rights are protected, in particular inheritance rights and the right to education;

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Emphasises the valuable and effective work carried out by international aid organisations and the development of decentralised project funding locally, which will enable better provision for women and girls in particular and provide them with employment prospects in the region through decentralised training structures, which at the same time will prevent the medical brain drain from the areas affected;

Amendment 56 #

Anna ZÁBORSKÁ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Remains deeply concerned about the heavy toll of EVD on women and girls, and believes that ~~failure to address gender- specific issues will have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term recovery~~a key condition for safeguarding their health is to ensure that epidemiological principles are consistently applied.

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Remains deeply concerned about the heavy toll of EVD on women and girls, and believes that ~~failure to address gender- specific issues will have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term recovery~~it is crucial to address the root causes of women being more exposed to EVD, in order to ensure long-term recovery, as well as increased level of equality between women and men in affected countries.

Amendment 58 #

Barbara MATERA, Teresa JIMÉNEZ-BECERRIL BARRIO, Ildikó GÁLL-PELCZ

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Remains deeply concerned about the heavy toll of EVD on women and girls, and believes that failure to address gender- specific issues will have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term recovery; insists on the need to reintegrate female survivors into society, both socially and financially.

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Remains deeply concerned about the heavy toll of EVD on women and girls, and believes that failure to address gender- specific issues will have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term recovery. Emphasises the importance of promoting awareness campaigns and the best health practices within the countries most affected by the virus.

Amendment 6 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas gender activists and women's advocacy groups in the most affected countries urged leaders to address the disproportionate effect of Ebola on the female population;

Amendment 60 #

Ivan JAKOVČIĆ, Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Remains deeply concerned about the heavy toll of EVD on women and girls, and ~~believes~~is of the opinion that failure to address gender- specific issues will have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term recovery.

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Remains deeply concerned about the heavy toll of EVD on women and girls, and ~~believ~~underlines that failure to address gender- specific issues will have a negative impact on the prospects for long-term recovery.

Amendment 62 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Underlines the need to recognise and address the gender dimensions of this type of sanitary crisis, for both the emergency response and for longer-term reconstruction.

Amendment 63 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b Urges public authorities to take into account that gender dynamics might help save lives through, among other things, targeted messages to women about the importance of using protective measures in and outside home.

Amendment 64 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Underlines the necessity of accurately depicting the role of women as well as the realities they face in the media in order to avoid that social customs are deliberately being used to reinforce the gendered roles that have been, at least partly, at the origin of the disproportionate percentage of women affected.

Amendment 65 #

Anna HEDH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Expresses concern that information about Ebola and its spread is not reaching everyone because of poor literacy. The Parliament stresses the importance of alternative means of disseminating information, for example giving out more information on the radio. The European Parliament notes a degree of mistrust of the authorities in the affected area and stresses the importance of providing the required medical treatment in rural areas as well.

Amendment 66 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls on the EU and Member States to consider, the urgent need for allocating resources to reinforce maternal healthcare systems, the long-term impact of health infrastructure rebuilding and the need for psychological support for those impacted.

Amendment 67 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls on the European Commission and researchers in the pharmaceuticals industry to concentrate their research and the funding provided through HORIZON 2020 not only on the needs of the wealthy regions of the world but also to bring the concerns of the emerging nations into focus, giving particular attention to women, pregnant women and children, in order ultimately to offer developing countries affordable medicines for the diseases that affect them.

Amendment 68 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Calls for the international community, including private companies, to address the current gap in empirical research and to investigate further these particular effects of EVD on the lives of women and girls, as well as developing a thorough understanding of their unique role in forming responses to these kinds of health-crises.

Amendment 69 #

Anna HEDH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Strongly emphasises the importance of combatting increased tension between groups as a result of the Ebola outbreak, as the creation of myths risks laying the blame for the outbreak on certain ethnic groups. The Parliament also expresses its concern about the extremely vulnerable position of children, as children whose parents have died are seen as carriers of the disease, isolated from society and forced to live alone on the streets.

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital B b (new)

Bb. whereas women dominate the informal economic sector, which has been hard hit;

Amendment 70 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Calls for the international community to address the severe economic and psychological cost of EVD for women and to empower women so that they can properly take care of their, now often extended, families.

Amendment 71 #

Anna HEDH

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Is concerned about the fall in the means of subsistence of women, due to the considerable reduction in small-scale farming and trade since the outbreak of the virus, which exposes women to an even higher risk of infection. The Parliament also notes women’s role in preparations for burials and stresses the importance of the risk of infection, without wishing to threaten cultural structures.

Amendment 72 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 c (new)

4c. Underlines this is the right moment for an EU policy switch that would easily provide affordable vegetarian protein for diets in developing countries while reducing the consumption of risky bushmeat.

Amendment 73 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 d (new)

4d. Recommends the European Union to finance women's education and training programmes to help them to replace bushmeat by affordable and less risky protein sources including soya-based food.

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Recital B c (new)

Bc. whereas women, who rely on market trade, micro-credit schemes and agricultural work, are experiencing a severe loss of income;

Amendment 9 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Tibor SZANYI, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Nicola CAPUTO, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital B d (new)

Bd. whereas food and crop production suffered severe interruptions, food prices are much higher and food security is a serious concern;

source: 549.158

2015/02/12 ENVI 165 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Draft opinion
Recital -A (new)

-A. Whereas the World Health Organisation was first alerted by the current outbreak of Ebola virus disease on 23 March 2014, but it was not until 8 August that the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee declared it a public health emergency of international concern.

Amendment 10 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the outbreak is the largest ever, and is currently affecting ~~four~~three 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; whereas fatalities have also occurred in the United States;

Amendment 100 #

Annie SCHREIJER-PIERIK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Considers it necessary to monitor adequately whether the money collected is received in the places for which it was originally intended;

Amendment 101 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Recognises the suspicion that the first human to contract Ebola became infected directly or indirectly through contact with a wild animal carrying the virus, most likely an infected bat. Urges Members States to follow FAO’s recommendations of enforcing strict legal restrictions on the trade, hunting and capture of bush meat, which poses a threat to human health and biodiversity.

Amendment 102 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Recommends that the aid provided in such cases should as a priority take the form of equipment, thus improving patient care and the control and traceability of financial aid;

Amendment 103 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis ~~cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sector~~poses a threat to the weak economy and to political and social stability not only in the countries affected, but throughout the west African region; emphasises that improving health systems will not be enough to eradicate Ebola; takes (the~~althcare, education and training, sanitation~~ view that the ‘zero new Ebola cases’ objective calls for integrated, fcood aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressrdinated efforts, including on the part of the international, national and regional actors and the various sectors (health, education, training, hygiene, disinfection, sanitation, food aid, safe drinking water, functioning sewerage systems, waste disposal) involved, in order to remedy the serious shortcomings ing the ~~current Ebola outbreak, is key~~provision of all key services;

Amendment 104 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sectors (healthcare, education and training, sanitation, food aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education~~, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and~~ and training, not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key;

Amendment 105 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sectors (healthcare, education and training, economy, sanitation, food aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key;

Amendment 106 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted and long term approach involving different sectors (healthcare, education and training, sanitation, food aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key;

Amendment 107 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sectors (healthcare, education and training, sanitation, food aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key; recalls its commitments to dedicate 20% of funds available under the DCI to health services.

Amendment 108 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sectors (including healthcare, education and training, sanitation, food aid, drinking water) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is ~~key~~essential in finding a fully comprehensive solution to the problem;

Amendment 109 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5

5. Stresses that the current crisis cannot be solved by health systems alone, but that a concerted approach involving different sectors (healthcare, education and training, sanitation, food aid, drinking water, economic development) is needed to address the critical gaps in all essential services; stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key;

Amendment 11 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

Amendment 110 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 – subparagraph 1 (new)

Stresses that a food crisis seems increasingly likely to follow in the wake of the epidemic, which has devastated small- scale farmers. Calls on the Member States, the Commission and the international community to invest in their long-term development in order to ensure that farming households and West Africa’s future food security do not remain at risk.

Amendment 111 #

Claudiu Ciprian TĂNĂSESCU

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Expresses concern at the fact that information on Ebola and the spread of the disease is not reaching everyone owing to low levels of literacy; emphasises the importance of alternative ways of disseminating information, such as providing more information via the radio; notes that there is mistrust of the authorities in the affected areas and emphasises how important it is that essential healthcare is also provided in rural areas;

Amendment 112 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Stresses the importance of learning from the Ebola crisis and therefore strengthen the health systems also in the Member States

Amendment 113 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Stresses that education, understood in a comprehensive way (also covering the cultural dimension and beliefs of these countries), and not only in terms of understanding and addressing the current Ebola outbreak, is key; calls on the international community and the EU to work together with the countries affected to develop an emergency medical training programme with a view to overcoming the acute local shortage of medical staff;

Amendment 114 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Acknowledges that to reach zero cases, every person who had a high risk contact with someone with Ebola needs to be identified; points out that traceability and monitorisation of contacts are two of the main challenges we confront and recalls quarantine related measures require special support to those affected such as providing food, water or medical care.

Amendment 115 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Points out that health information measures must continue after the end of the epidemic has been announced for a period of at least three months, particularly with a view to preventing transmission during sexual relations in which at least one survivor is involved;

Amendment 116 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Calls on the Commission to ask the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to carry out an up-to-date assessment of the consequences of the budget austerity measures, which the IMF has requested in exchange for financial aid, on the health systems of the African countries that have been affected by the epidemic;

Amendment 117 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Calls on the international community to take the steps required to address the social problems caused by the outbreak and, in particular, to ensure that children orphaned by Ebola are protected and cared for and that Ebola victims are integrated into society;

Amendment 118 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Points out that the high risk of a future health crisis is an additional reason for the Member States to have sovereign control of their national borders and to be able to show responsibility in limiting international travel to the affected areas to a strict minimum, in particular by suspending commercial flights that are not essential for managing the health crisis;

Amendment 119 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)

5c. Calls, in the event of a future health crisis, for departure and arrival airports on direct routes and for stopover airports to have quarantine procedures that would be operational until rapid diagnostic test results show that travellers do not present a risk;

Amendment 12 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the outbreak is ~~the largest ever, and is~~ currently affecting four countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali), while outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal have been declared to be over, and a separate outbreak in the DRC has also ended, whereas this outbreak is the largest ever because in particular of: - the structural adjustment policies imposed by the IMF and the World Bank causing a significant deterioration in healthcare facilities in these countries in order to meet their debts, - the spread of the virus being facilitated by deforestation leading to the destruction of the habitat of the virusʼ natural reservoirs, - failings in how the emergency was assessed by the international organisations concerned (WHO), - as well as the pharmaceutical industryʼs failure to develop a suitable treatment since the virus was first identified in 1976 on account of there being no real prospect of what might be considered a sufficiently profitable return;

Amendment 120 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)

5d. Calls for measures to ensure that local food production is first used for the benefit of local populations by restricting imports to the European Union;

Amendment 121 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

Amendment 122 #

Draft opinion
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, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent amongst others, for their work done on the ground and warmly welcomes their extensive input and help in controlling this outbreak;

Amendment 123 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6

Amendment 124 #

Draft opinion
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, for their work done on the ground and warmly welcomes their extensive input and help in controlling this outbreak; regrets the cases of inappropriate treatment of members of medical staff and other staff involved in the fight against the Ebola outbreak following their return from Africa;

Amendment 125 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to offer financial support to the families of members of the organisations mentioned in paragraph 6 (UNMEER, partner organisations and non-governmental humanitarian organisations, such as Médecins Sans Frontières) who have died in the fight against Ebola and from its effects;

Amendment 126 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Asks that, in the event of future health crises on this scale, the Member States should offer coordinated reception of infected patients, with specially trained teams dedicated to this task;

Amendment 127 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Calls on the international community to complete without delay the supply of protective clothing (PPE-personal protective equipment) to the 14 countries exposed to contagion and to plan production and distribution so as to ensure their availability should the virus spread to any other country in the world;

Amendment 128 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Calls for the setting up of a programme to encourage the return of African doctors who have been trained or who are practising in the Member States;

Amendment 129 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 b (new)

6b. Calls on the Member States to ensure that medical staff have the right to all necessary medical treatment should they become infected and, as a matter of course, medical evacuation to their countries of origin if, like the EU Member States, they have the necessary Ebola treatment facilities;

Amendment 13 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the outbreak is the largest ever, and is also threatening Europe and currently affecting four countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali), while outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal have been declared to be over, and a separate outbreak in the DRC has also ended;

Amendment 130 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 6 c (new)

6c. Calls for the allocation of EU funds for the building of infectious diseases centres at the borders of each Member State and ad hoc staff training;

Amendment 131 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should ~~invest in and~~ encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training ~~and adequate resources~~ to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;

Amendment 132 #

Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Sylvie GODDYN

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); ~~consider~~emphasises how important it is that the EU ~~should~~ invests in and encourages capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); emphasises how important it is that the latest Ebola outbreak should not be seen as an isolated case, but as a sign that long-term investment is needed to combat the virus; considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;

Amendment 133 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the ~~Member~~African States ~~and the Commission~~in cooperation with the Commission and Member States to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; ~~stresses that Ebola is definitely~~points out that, even if Ebola is a disease with a high mortality rate, ~~but that~~ there are numerous other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should invest in ~~and encourage~~ capacity building in the field by the Member States and the African states affected, in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;

Amendment 134 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should invest in and encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); stresses that protecting medical staff involved in fighting the outbreak is of the greatest importance; considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;

Amendment 135 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should invest in and encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;Does not affect the English version.

Amendment 136 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the ~~Member States and the Commission to~~international community to continue strengthening the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well ~~(such as malaria)~~; considers that the EU should invest in and encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics ~~(Ebola or any other illness)~~; considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;

Amendment 137 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should invest in and encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field; reaffirms that Universal Health Coverage and capacity building assistance to address the requirements of the International Health regulations in all countries are essential to the reinforcement of health systems.

Amendment 138 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7

7. Calls on the Member States and the Commission to strengthen the health systems in the West African countries affected; stresses that Ebola is definitely a disease with a high mortality rate, but that there are other fatal diseases in the area that should be treated as well (such as malaria); considers that the EU should invest in and encourage capacity building in the field in order to address the problem of the weak health systems which has left people in many parts of West Africa without access to basic healthcare, so that local staff may be provided with the training and adequate resources to face future epidemics (Ebola or any other illness); considers that the efforts of third party donors should be channelled into building up capacity in the field;

Amendment 139 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Welcomes the conclusions of the 10- 11 December 2014 ‘High level meeting on building resilient systems for health in Ebola-affected countries’, in which the governments of the affected countries reiterated their commitment to lead the work on building resilient health systems through national plans that will be used as the basis on which all international actors and partners can define roles and responsibilities.

Amendment 14 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. Whereas the countries worst hit by the current outbreak of Ebola in West Africa were countries with particularly under resourced, under staffed and vulnerable health systems.

Amendment 140 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 7 b (new)

7b. Stresses the importance of the EU avoiding a ‘one size fits all approach’ when providing crisis assistance in developing countries, in particular paying attention to sub-national health systems by increasing the qualified health workforce, improving capacities for surveillance and increasing the predictability of supplies and coordinated supply chains.

Amendment 141 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for educational and informative actions to be taken to raise awareness of symptoms and preventive measures in order to facilitate trust and popular cooperation with anti-Ebola measures, as information, compliance with health rules and communication constitute an important aspect of prevention and of the fight against the Ebola outbreak; points out that the situation created in some Member States following the arrival of possible cases of Ebola has shown that a campaign of information and more effective communication is needed in Europe;

Amendment 142 #

Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Sylvie GODDYN

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for educational and informative actions to be taken to raise awareness of symptoms and preventive measures in order to facilitate trust and popular cooperation with anti-Ebola measures, as information and communication constitute an important aspect of the fight against the Ebola outbreak; points out that the situation created in some Member States following the arrival of possible cases of Ebola has shown that a review of the campa~~ign of information and more effective communication is~~city of healthcare systems to respond to any outbreaks of the illness and preparations to conduct a campaign of information that does not create widespread panic are needed in Europe;

Amendment 143 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8

8. ~~Calls for~~Would like to see educational and informative actions ~~to be taken~~by the African states in cooperation with the EU Member States, to raise awareness of symptoms and preventive measures in order to facilitate trust and popular cooperation with anti- Ebola measures, as information and communication constitute an important aspect of the fight against the Ebola outbreak; points out that the situation created in some Member States following the arrival of possible cases of Ebola has shown that a campaign of information and more effective communication is needed in Europe;

Amendment 144 #

Annie SCHREIJER-PIERIK

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Stresses that, in the countries affected, orphans who have lost their families to the Ebola virus must be cared for by means of placement in orphanages and counselling;

Amendment 145 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Nicola CAPUTO, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Strongly emphasises the importance of combating increased tensions between groups as a result of the Ebola outbreak, as the creation of myths could mean that certain ethnic groups are blamed for the Ebola outbreak; also expresses concern about the extremely vulnerable situation of children, as children whose parents have died are seen as carriers of the disease and are isolated from society and forced to live alone on the streets;

Amendment 146 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 8 a (new)

8a. Considers that the Members States as well as the EU institutions should assess the opportunity of creating a health professional’s database of trained emergencies specialists’ to be deployed in a timely manner, as well as to assess developing countries in strengthening their public health systems.

Amendment 147 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

Amendment 148 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

~~9. Encourages taking immediate action to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola and to carry out scrupulous infection control;~~deleted (On 16 January 2015, the Commission announced a total funding package of EUR 215 million for eight Ebola virus research projects.)

Amendment 149 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Encourages taking immediate and effective action to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola and to carry out scrupulous infection control;

Amendment 15 #

Draft opinion
Recital B a (new)

Ba. Whereas the escalation of the Ebola epidemic has caused not only a medical crisis claiming thousands of lives but also social and economic pressures and political instability in the affected countries and wider regions.

Amendment 150 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Encourages taking immediate action to coordinate and strengthen medical research and ~~the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola~~clinical tests aimed at leading to the production and widespread use of safe and effective vaccines against Ebola, as well as the production of modern and effective antiviral drugs, and to carry out scrupulous infection control;

Amendment 151 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Encourages taking immediate action to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola ~~and~~, to carry out scrupulous infection control; and to publish the data regarding vaccines safety and effectiveness; stresses the need of not withdrawing research efforts face to a potential control of the epidemia; expects the Grant Agreements of the Ebola+ programme to be made public regarding its conditions, conditionalities and awarding procedures.

Amendment 152 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. ~~Encourages taking immediate action to coordinate and~~Calls on the Commission to strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and ~~vac~~policines against ~~Ebola and to carry out scrupulous infection control~~not only ebola, but also some other illnesses that cause a high number of deaths in Africa;

Amendment 153 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Encourages taking immediate action to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola, taking care to secure ethical conditions for the trials by means of informed prior consent by the patients who take part in the trials, transparency in the clinical data resulting from this research and effective access to these vaccines and treatments by the populations concerned (qualified staff and adequate infrastructure for care delivery, with the price not exceeding the real cost of production), and to carry out scrupulous infection control; «

Amendment 154 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9

9. Encourages taking immediate actions to create a financial environment for research for the prevention of further outbreaks, coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola and to carry out scrupulous infection control;

Amendment 155 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Calls on the Member States to make further efforts to provide the EU Emergency Response Coordination Centre with the resources and staff it needs; urges the Member States to coordinate their efforts in the Health Security Committee, with the involvement of the Commission, and emphasises the importance of further cooperation and exchanges of information on the pool of EU aid volunteers, which aims to provide an effective European response to disasters;

Amendment 156 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Considers it necessary to incorporate the great apes in the recommendations for vaccination campaigns, both for the preservation of these species under threat and in order to protect the local human populations;

Amendment 157 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 b (new)

9b. Calls on the international community to guarantee that there are sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment available and to take measures to guarantee safe medical evacuation of international staff in the future;

Amendment 158 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 c (new)

9c. Welcomes, in that connection, the mobilisation of medical evacuation capacities (Medevac) for international humanitarian aid workers who have contracted the disease in the course of their work in the countries affected;

Amendment 159 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Requires all actors involved in the response to take a much more flexible approach and allocate resources according to: the most pressing local needs at any given time and place; - the need to prepare a transition towards a sustainable post-crisis situation that is favourable to peace.

Amendment 16 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas this epidemic is unpredictable and constantly evolving and therefore continues international support is needed in relation to all aspects of the epidemic response from community education and mobilisation, training of health personnel and medical supportive care to coordinated epidemiological control, tracing and surveillance;

Amendment 160 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Requires all actors involved in the response to take a much more flexible approach and allocate resources according to the most pressing needs at any given time and place, taking into account the long term objective to eradicate Ebola and prevent future outbreaks.

Amendment 161 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10

10. Requires all actors involved in the response to take a much more flexible approach and allocate resources according to the most pressing needs at any given time and place. Stresses that remote rural areas should benefit from more international support.

Amendment 162 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Is concerned at the manner in which the Ebola outbreak is also weakening women’s livelihoods, owing to the considerable decline in small-scale farming and trade since the outbreak of the virus, exposing women to an even higher risk of infection; also notes the role of women in preparations for burials and stresses the importance of protecting against infection without threatening cultural structures;

Amendment 163 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Calls for measures to be implemented once Ebola has been suppressed to restore faith in the security of affected countries to bring back investors and initiate an economic recovery, which is one of the preconditions for preventing epidemics in the future;

Amendment 164 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 a (new)

10a. Requests the Commission, once this outbreak is under control, to come forward with a report drawing on the lessons from the West African Ebola outbreak, highlighting potential areas of improvement in future EU’s response to similar health crises.

Amendment 165 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 10 b (new)

10b. Urges all actors involved in the crisis to consider the opportunities that new technologies have to offer in delivering improved speed of response

Amendment 17 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. wWhereas the way this epidemic ~~is unpredictable and constantly evolving~~constantly evolves is unpredictable, notably through lack of isolation facilities and skilled local medical workers, and because of the difficulties foreign medical workers have in winning the trust of the local people concerned which is a prerequisite to the success of their actions;

Amendment 18 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas thise Ebola epidemic ishas shown to be unpredictable and constantly evolving; recalls that the introduction of a case into unaffected countries remains a risk for as long as cases are reported in any country.

Amendment 19 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas ~~this~~ epidemic iss are unpredictable and constantly evolving; whereas the intensity of this outbreak is decreasing but its geographical spread is increasing;

Amendment 2 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas ~~since~~ the Ebola outbreak in West Africa ~~was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the disease has claimed 6 387 lives in the region1; __________________ 1WHO data as at 10 December 2014.~~in 2014 is the largest and most complex outbreak of this virus disease in history and has affected many countries and resulted in thousands falling ill and dying1 a; whereas, prior to this outbreak, Ebola had not been considered a major public health challenge; __________________ 1a Situation report: http://www.who.int/csr/disease/ebola/situa tion-reports/archive/en/

Amendment 20 #

Lorenzo FONTANA

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas this epidemic is unpredictable and constantly evolving; and no research to date has produced a cure;

Amendment 21 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas this epidemic is unpredictable and constantly uncontrollably evolving;

Amendment 22 #

Draft opinion
Recital C

C. whereas this epidemic is unpredictable and constantly evolving and is also threatening Europe;

Amendment 23 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas the main challenges in the three most affected countries have been the lack of experience in dealing with Ebola, a highly mobile population, a widespread public misperception of the disease and its transmission paths and a high degree of community resistance to early treatment, leading to acts of aggression against international medical personnel;

Amendment 24 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas the quality and strength of health systems have been key to effectively control the outbreak

Amendment 25 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas the economic, social and political implications of this epidemic will have lasting consequences for the region, including threats to regional food security and social cohesion;

Amendment 26 #

Draft opinion
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas, in February 2015, the WHO reported for the first time that year an increase in weekly infection rates in the three countries with high transmission levels, Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where the response to Ebola still a major challenge;

Amendment 27 #

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas the worst-hit countries have received some assistance from the international community, but foreign governments have focused primarily on financing or building Ebola case- management structures, leaving it up to national authorities, local healthcare staff and NGOs to staff theminternational community had underestimated the scale of the outbreak, and the initial response was therefore hesitant and did not reflect the true extent of the crisis;

Amendment 28 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas the worst-hit countries have received s~~ome~~ignificant assistance from the international community, but foreign governments have focused primarily on financing or building Ebola case- management structures, leaving it up to national authorities, local healthcare staff and NGOs to staff them;

Amendment 29 #

Lorenzo FONTANA

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas the worst-hit countries have received some assistance from the international community, but foreign governments have focused primarily on financing or building Ebola case- management structures, rather than investing in ways of resolving the problem at source, furthermore leaving it up to national authorities, local healthcare staff and NGOs to s~~taff them~~upply the necessary resources in terms of medical staff;

Amendment 3 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas ~~since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the disease has claimed 6 387 lives in~~ the disease has claimed 8966 casualties and 22140 confirmed, probable and suspected cases in the region; whereas the health professionals working in the region have been severely hit by the outbreak with a total of 822 confirmed infections and 488 deathes re~~gion1 ;~~ported.1 a . __________________ 1WHO data as at 10 December 2014. 1aWHO Ebola Situation report 4 February 2015

Amendment 30 #

Jean-François JALKH, Joëlle MÉLIN, Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN

Draft opinion
Recital D

D. whereas the worst-hit countries have received some assistance from the international community, but foreign governments have focused primarily on financing or building Ebola case- management structures, leaving it up to national authorities, local healthcare staff and NGOs to staff them; whereas international action should not be detrimental to the national sovereignty of beneficiary states;

Amendment 31 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas the European Union, together with its Member states, has made available more than €1.2 billion in financial aid to help contain the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa;

Amendment 32 #

Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)

Da. Whereas the European Union has deployed financial assistance worth 1.1 billion euros, of which more than 434 European Commission funds; whereas the WHO has recently called for three measures to eradicate Ebola completely: an extra fund of 1 billion dollars (800 million euros); better coordination and management of emergency situations and ensuring the access of new medicines to the market.

Amendment 33 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Nicola CAPUTO, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital D b (new)

Db. whereas the European Commission has been actively engaged from the very start of the outbreak, has been scaling up its response to the epidemic and monitors the situation through its Emergency response Coordination Centre which serves for the coordination of EU assistance and under the authority of the EU Ebola Coordinator Christos Stylianides;

Amendment 34 #

Draft opinion
Recital D b (new)

Db. Whereas EVD eradication faces significant challenges such as the beginning of the wet season, increasing geographical spread, widespread transmission, continued community resistance and unsafe burials.

Amendment 35 #

Draft opinion
Recital D c (new)

Dc. whereas the activation of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has facilitated rapid, coordinated deployment of emergency supplies and experts offered by the Member States;

Amendment 36 #

Mireille D'ORNANO, Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital E

E. whereas, across the region, there are still no adequate facilities in the locations required for isolating and diagnosing patients; whereas in many places in West Africa, coordination is an issue, resulting in serious gaps in the responsppropriate diagnosis, isolation, treatment and care facilities are already available in the worst affected countries, but the coordination, geographical distribution and flexibility of these facilities still represent a major challenge;

Amendment 37 #

Lorenzo FONTANA

Draft opinion
Recital E

E. whereas, across the region, there are still no adequate facilities in the locations required for isolating and diagnosing patients; whereas in many places in West Africa, coordination is an issue, ~~resulting in~~characterised by serious gaps in the response, resulting in further cases of contagion and loss of life;

Amendment 38 #

Draft opinion
Recital E

E. whereas, across the region, there are still no adequate facilities in the locations required for isolating and diagnosing patients; whereas in many places in West Africa, coordination is an issue, resulting in serious gaps in the response; whereas the health systems of African countries affected by the epidemic have suffered because of budgetary restrictions demanded by the International Monetary Fund in return for the financial aid they have received;

Amendment 39 #

Draft opinion
Recital E

E. whereas, across the region, there are still no adequate facilities in the locations required for isolating and diagnosing patients; whereas in many places in West Africa, bad coordination is an issue, resulting in serious gaps in the response;

Amendment 4 #

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the ~~disease has claimed 6 387 lives in the region~~number of confirmed or probable deaths in the region has risen to almost 9 0001; __________________ 1WHO data as at ~~10 December~~31 January 20145.

Amendment 40 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas, according to UNICEF, several thousand children have been orphaned as a result of the epidemic; whereas many Ebola victims suffer from discrimination, loss of status and social exclusion;

Amendment 41 #

Draft opinion
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas a high percentage of doctors from sub-Saharan Africa do not exercise their profession in their countries of origin but in EU countries, where in some cases they have trained, causing a shortage of medical staff in the countries affected by the epidemic, as they are not able to carry out their mission of prevention, treatment and early detection among their own people;

Amendment 42 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital F

F. whereas othe~~r elements that are essential to an Ebola response – such as awareness-raising and community acceptance, safe buri~~ international community’s response to the countries affected by Ebola should address the entire range of challenges and include many different elements, such as awareness-raising, improving the commitment of the community, social mobilisation, ensuring safe funerals, contact tracing and monitoring, alerts and surveillance, and access to health care for non-Ebola patients ~~– are still lacking in parts of West Africa~~;

Amendment 43 #

Draft opinion
Recital F

F. whereas other elements that are essential to an Ebola response – such as awareness- raising and community acceptance, safe burials, contact tracing, alerts and surveillance, access to health care for non- Ebola patients ~~– are still lacking in parts of West Africa;~~; whereas the role played by health professionals is key in such emergency circumstances.

Amendment 44 #

Draft opinion
Recital F

F. whereas othe~~r elements that are essential to an Ebola~~ Ebola epidemic has highlighted serious shortcomings in local health crisis prevention and response systems – such as awareness-raising and community acceptance, safe burials, contact tracing, alerts and surveillance, access to health care for non-Ebola patients – ~~are~~ still lacking in parts of West Africa;

Amendment 45 #

Draft opinion
Recital F

F. whereas other elements that are essential to an Ebola response – such as laboratory capacity to diagnose and confirm infection, awareness- raising and community acceptance, safe burials, contact tracing, alerts and surveillance, access to health care for non- Ebola patients ~~– are still lacking in parts of West Africa~~, including protection of health facilities and health workers – are still lacking in parts of West Africa, while these activities are interdependent and should all be in place to contain the epidemic;

Amendment 46 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital F

F. whereas other elements that are essential to an Ebola response – such as awareness- raising and community acceptance, safe burials, contact tracing, alerts and surveillance, access to health care and education for non- Ebola patients – are still lacking in parts of West Africa;

Amendment 47 #

Draft opinion
Recital F a (new)

Fa. whereas the virus may be present in patientsʼ seminal fluid for nearly 90 days after their recovery;

Amendment 48 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital F b (new)

Fb. whereas permission to board flights in affected countries was based in part on passengersʼ statements concerning their stay in infected areas, which is unreliable to say the least;

Amendment 49 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital F c (new)

Fc. whereas cases of infection in the Member States have demonstrated the unpreparedness of medical teams in EU hospitals to treat Ebola cases;

Amendment 5 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the disease has claimed 6 387 lives in the region1, including 342 members of medical staff; __________________ 1WHO data as at 10 December 2014.

Amendment 50 #

Draft opinion
Recital F d (new)

Fd. whereas on the one hand Member States do not have the means to control entry at their own borders, and on the other have not been able to coordinate effectively joint controls on travel to and from the infected region; whereas this disorder may have contributed to the epidemicʼs spread within affected areas by facilitating international travel and thereby contributing to local populations moving around within those countries where the virus is spreading;

Amendment 51 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital F e (new)

Fe. whereas the epidemic has seriously affected local farming, with the death of farm workers, local populations moving around and the abandonment of some crop areas posing a threat to future harvests; whereas there is a risk that exports to the EU may create food shortages locally;

Amendment 52 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital F f (new)

Ff. whereas the monitoring of people at risk arriving in Europe is far from perfect, chiefly due to the lack of borders and the principle of free movement;

Amendment 53 #

Draft opinion
Recital G

G. whereas the results of clinical trials for ~~different treatments should be starting soon in West Afric~~Ebola vaccines should be available in the first quarter of 2015; whereas additional funds are still needed to help countries introduce vaccines, to rebuild the collapsed health systems and restore immunisation services in the countries affected by Ebola;

Amendment 54 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital G

G. whereas clinical trials for different treatments ~~should be starting soon in West Africa;~~have only just started 1 a in West Africa; __________________ 1aThe first experimental vaccine doses were sent to Liberia 23.01.2015.

Amendment 55 #

Draft opinion
Recital G

G. whereas ~~clinical trial~~the EC has launched through the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) eight projects fwor ~~different treatments should be starting soon in West Africa;~~ king on vaccine and diagnostics run under the new Ebola+ programme with a total budget of 215 million euros; recalls that €114 million come from Horizon 2020, and the remaining €101 million from the pharmaceutical companies involved in the projects.

Amendment 56 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital G

G. whereas ~~clinical trials for different treatments should be starting soon in West Africa;~~two vaccine candidates currently being tested in humans and both have shown to be safe and efficacious in animals

Amendment 57 #

Draft opinion
Recital G

G. whereas ~~clinical tri~~taking into account that according to the Directorate-Generals for ~~different treatment~~research 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 58 #

Draft opinion
Recital G

G. whereas clinical trials for different treatments ~~should be starting soon in West Africa~~are planned in West Africa, stemming notably thanks to EU public funding from research programmes such as IMI (Innovative Medicines Initiative);

Amendment 59 #

Draft opinion
Recital G a (new)

Ga. whereas the outbreak has dramatically affected local health personnel and the continuation of the training process in West Africa; whereas medical staff are still at great risk of becoming infected with Ebola;

Amendment 6 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital A

A. whereas since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was officially declared on 22 March 2014 in Guinea, the disease has claimed ~~6 387~~8 981 lives in the region1 ; __________________ 1 WHO data as at ~~10 December~~04 February 20145.

Amendment 60 #

Annie SCHREIJER-PIERIK

Draft opinion
Recital G a (new)

Ga. whereas, while it was known that no vaccine was yet available, it took a very long time before research into, and testing of, vaccines began;

Amendment 61 #

Draft opinion
Recital G a (new)

Ga. whereas the population of big apes (chimpanzees and gorillas) in West Africa has fallen by one third in the past 20 years because of various Ebola epidemics; whereas these apes are coming into contact with human populations more and more frequently, because of deforestation in particular, and are a link in the transmission chain;

Amendment 62 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Recital G b (new)

Gb. whereas private research laboratories do not take an interest in this disease nor, generally, in other haemorrhagic fevers which affect poor populations sporadically but ever more violently; whereas the market generated by these diseases is not sufficiently profitable for private operators, which, furthermore, do not have suitably equipped laboratories (P4) to carry out research on pathogenes of this kind;

Amendment 63 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Recital H

H. whereas ~~international financial aid was slow in the first insta~~the measures taken in the fight against Ebola should form part of a coordinated process of ensuring greater transparencey and ~~ill-adapted later on, encumbered by serious bottlenecks in terms of staffing~~clarity and focusing more on shortcomings and meeting needs;

Amendment 64 #

Draft opinion
Recital H

H. whereas international financial aid was slow in the first instance ~~and ill-adapted later on, encumbered by serious bottleneck~~; recalls that the WHO approved its Strategic Action Plan for Ebola outbreak response in July 2014 in which it established a 6-9 months’ timeframe to control the outbreak; points that, although there has been a peak in contagious sin ~~terms of staffing;~~ce February 1, total eradication and "zero contagion" is the ultimate goal.

Amendment 65 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Recital H a (new)

Ha. Whereas some members of medical staff and other staff involved in the fight against the Ebola outbreak were stigmatised and treated inappropriately following their return from Africa;

Amendment 66 #

Draft opinion
Recital H a (new)

Ha. Whereas the impact of the Ebola crisis exceeds its mortality rates affecting the prosperity of their whole economies. In 2015 alone according to the World Bank, the impact on GDP of the three most affected countries will be 2 billion dollars, as a direct consequence of the crisis.

Amendment 67 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Recital H a (new)

Ha. whereas targeting international aid solely on the Ebola virus and not on building up local capacity to run efficient healthcare systems may produce pernicious effects such as an upsurge in the incidence of other diseases, such as diarrhoeal diseases which cause child deaths and malaria, as a result of a let up in efforts to prevent and treat them;

Amendment 68 #

Draft opinion
Recital H b (new)

Hb. Whereas the impact of the death rates in affected countries are further worsened by struggling health systems which are unable to provide basic services like immunisation, childcare and maternal health services.

Amendment 69 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1

1. Deplores the loss of lives in the region devastated by the Ebola outbreak and expresses its sincere condolences to the governments of the countries and to the people directly and indirectly affected by the outbreak;

Amendment 7 #

Draft opinion
Recital A a (new)

Aa. Whereas the WHO has just reported that, for the first time this year, the weekly case incidence increased in all three countries; whereas there were 124 new cases reported in the week to 1 February : 39 in Guinea, 5 in Liberia and 80 in Sierra Leone.

Amendment 70 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Welcomes the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and the establishment of the EU Task Force for Ebola and the appointment of Commissioner Christos Stylianides as EU Ebola Response Coordinator and the overall contribution and the help of numerous partner organisations, specialised national and international agencies, the Funds, national and international non-governmental organizations, local and international medical staff and the volunteers working on the ground to combat Ebola;

Amendment 71 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Notes the progress and contributions made at international and European level but stresses that there is still considerable amount of work that needs to be done to help countries contain and eradicate the Ebola epidemic; Reiterates the importance of a European strategy to coordinate the Ebola response at Union level and to enhance the state of preparedness and protection within the Union itself;

Amendment 72 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)

1a. Pays homage to the courage and devotion of the teams of civilian volunteers and soldiers, mainly European, who have come to the aid of victims and extends its deepest sympathy to the families of the 375 medical workers who have paid with their lives;

Amendment 73 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Requires the ~~Member States and the Commission~~international community to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola, and ~~to advance the necessary clinical trials for existing candidate tre~~other epidemic-prone, life-threatening viral infectious diseases; calls upon the international community to ensure that me~~nts~~asures are taken on the ground to immunise the population;

Amendment 74 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Re~~quires the~~cognises the efforts made by Member States and the Commission to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola, and to advance the necessary clinical trials for existing candidate treatments; however, regrets the fact that Grants Agreements for the Ebola+ projects will be signed after the release of the IMI funds and not beforehand and expects that pharmaceutical companies involved will adhere and respect Corporate Social Responsibility principles, specifically by means of affordability of the innovative vaccine treatment.

Amendment 75 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Requires the Member States and the Commission to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola, and to advance the necessary clinical trials for existing candidate treatments, taking care to ensure these trials take place under ethical conditions whereby patients give informed consent prior to taking part, and there is transparency concerning clinical data stemming from this research and genuine access to these vaccines and treatment for the populations targeted (skilled staff and suitable facilities for administration of treatment, prices not to exceed the real cost of production);

Amendment 76 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

2. Requires the Member States and the Commission to coordinate and strengthen medical research and the production of efficient medicines and vaccines against Ebola, and to advance the necessary clinical trials for existing candidate treatments; welcomes in this regard the fact that the Commission, together with the European pharmaceutical industry, is funding eight research projects aiming to develop vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests with over 200 million Euro;

Amendment 77 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 78 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 79 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2

Amendment 8 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas ~~the outbreak is the largest ever, and is currently affecting four countrie~~despite the fact that the outbreak was officially declared in Guinea on 22 March 2014 , Ebola was only recognised by the WHO as ian ~~West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Mali), while outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal have been declared to be over, and a separate outbreak in the DRC has also ended~~international public health emergency on 9 August ; whereas the outbreak has affected more than 20 000 people, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone and has spread to 9 countries and 3 continents;

Amendment 80 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Welcomes the eight research projects carried out by the EU under the Ebola + Innovative Medicines Initiative with the aim of developing vaccines and rapid diagnostic tests;

Amendment 81 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Points out the international community should learn from self- criticism on late response taking into consideration the specific features of this outbreak; stresses the need to continue supporting institutions like the WHO which has proven to be essential at international level for coordinating and boosting public health related issues.

Amendment 82 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Welcomes the European Commission's mobilisation of €24.4 million in 2014 and €114 million in 2015 from Horizon 2020 to fund research projects that combat Ebola through the development of vaccines, rapid diagnostics tests, and clinical trials to test existing and new Ebola compound treatments.

Amendment 83 #

Sylvie GODDYN, Jean-François JALKH, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN, Louis ALIOT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Calls on the Commission to review its policy on support for research teams concerned in the EU so they have the means needed to carry out research, find the treatment needed and produce it in the Member States;

Amendment 84 #

Catherine BEARDER, Gerben-Jan GERBRANDY, José Inácio FARIA, Robert ROCHEFORT

Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Salutes that in January 2015 the first trial of a potential drug to treat Ebola started at a Medecins Sans Frontieres centre in Liberia. Vaccines trials, which would normally take decades, are now being fast-tracked in Ebola-affected countries on a timescale of weeks and months.

Amendment 85 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 86 #

Draft opinion
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 the beginning of the epidemic; considers that the scaling-up of the Commission’s financial commitment should be stronger in terms of humanitarian and developmentdeleted (since the official declaration of the outbreak, total EU funding (European Commission and Member States) has reached more than EUR 1.2 billion. Although further financial support for the affected countries still appears necessary, the focus should be on a complex approach that provides accurate, flexible aind ~~to respond to the crisis; considers it necessary to increase the availability and the volume of financial resources;~~coordinated responses tailored to local needs)

Amendment 87 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
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 the beginning of the epidemic; considers that thealthough the EU was engaged from the very start of the crisis, the response of the Member States has been slow in the beginning; welcomes and encourages in this regard the ongoing scaling-up of the ~~Commission’s~~EC and MS financial commitment ~~should be stronger in term~~in the areas of humanitarian and development aid ~~to respond to the crisis; considers it necessary to increase the availability a~~, logistics and research to respond to the ~~volume of financial resource~~crisis;

Amendment 88 #

Draft opinion
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 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;ve to support WHO recommendations, specifically the creation of an extra fund worth 1 billion dollars to eradicate Ebola; points out that there is marge the manoeuvre to improve coordination and organization in emergency situations inside the EU; therefore considers it necessary to increase the availability and the volume of financial resources; and to ensure the access of innovative medicines to the market.

Amendment 89 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI, Christel SCHALDEMOSE

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 9 #

Draft opinion
Recital B

B. whereas the WHO and the international community underestimated the scope of the outbreak in its beginnings; whereas the outbreak is the largest ever, and is currently affecting ~~four~~three countries in West Africa (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leon~~e and Mali), while outb~~a); whereaks ~~in Nigeria and Senegal have been declared to be over, and a separate outbreak in the DRC has also ended;~~Ebola became epidemic in large part because of their weak health systems.

Amendment 90 #

Jean-François JALKH, Sylvie GODDYN, Mireille D'ORNANO, Joëlle MÉLIN

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 91 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 92 #

Draft opinion
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 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 as well as of medical teams, qualified health workers, laboratories, epidemiologists and protective equipment among others;

Amendment 93 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3

Amendment 94 #

Soledad CABEZÓN RUIZ, Gilles PARGNEAUX, Tibor SZANYI

Draft opinion
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Calls on the EU to keep the leadership in fighting the EVD outbreak; stresses that although the efforts invested in containing the outbreak showed significant results, it is necessary to eradicate the disease; in this regards welcomes the high-level international conference on Ebola on 3 March 2015 organized by the EU and key partners with the aim to eradicate Ebola but also to asses the impacts on the affected countries in order to make sure that development aid will build up on humanitarian efforts;

Amendment 95 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Commission to put in place control systems to ensure that the entire budget allocated to stopping the Ebola outbreak is actually used to fight the epidemic in the countries affected by the virus and not for other purposes;deleted

Amendment 96 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Commission to put in place control systems to ensure that the ~~entire~~ budget allocated to stopping the Ebola outbreak is ~~actually used to fight the epidemic in the countries affected by the virus and not for other purpose~~distributed in a transparent, readily understandable manner; calls for the geographic focus of the EU aid to be broadened and for that aid to be used primarily to address problems common to a number of different areas;

Amendment 97 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Commission, in coordination with the Member States, to put in place control systems to ensure that the entire budget and other resources allocated to stopping the Ebola outbreak is actually used to fight the epidemic in the countries affected by the virus and not for other purposes;

Amendment 98 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Commission to put in place control systems to ensure that the entire budget allocated to ~~stopping the Ebola outbreak~~improving healthcare and sanitation infrastructure, making it possible to tackle general health inequalities while combating the Ebola outbreak and preventing further health crises, is actually used to fight the epidemic in the countries affected by the virus and not for other purposes;

Amendment 99 #

Draft opinion
Paragraph 4

4. Calls on the Commission to ~~put in plac~~implement the control systems rigorously to ensure that the entire budget allocated to stopping the Ebola outbreak is actually used to fight the epidemic in the countries affected by the virus and not for other purposes; (Control systems are already in place. The Commission is being called on to implement them rigorously.)

source: 549.196

2015/05/28 DEVE 157 amendments...

Amendment 1 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 1 a (new)

– having regard to the European Commission's Communication COM(2010) 128 together with SEC(2010) 380, 381 and 382 on the EU Role in Global Health,

Amendment 10 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas there are structural shortcomings in the health ~~and education~~ systems, in ~~particular~~ cluding the ~~area of~~training of medical personnel, and in health education, in the three countries affected by the epidemic (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea), which are also among those at the bottom of the UNDP's human development index, with around 80% of the countries' citizens living in extreme poverty;

Amendment 100 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4

4. Calls for the establishment of a European rapid response capability comprising experts, laboratory support staff, epidemiologists and logistics facilities, including mobile laboratories, 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 101 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls also on the European Union to support the establishment of a network of monitoring points in developing countries to make it possible to detect as quickly as possible new cases of infectious disease which have the potential to develop into pandemics, in order to create a sentinel network in those countries;

Amendment 102 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 b (new)

4b. Recognises the need to support the establishment of cooperation between the EU and its Member States and developing countries, in particular those of West Africa, as far as training medical staff is concerned;

Amendment 103 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Stresses the importance of strengthening protection and rapid evacuation systems for international health workers;

Amendment 104 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls for greater financial support to be channelled towards NGOs leading the fight against the epidemic;

Amendment 105 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4 a (new)

4a. Calls for the establishment of social protection mechanisms for heavily affected women, as well as a programme targeting Ebola´s orphans;

Amendment 106 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

5. Urges the Commission to help the three countries affected to develop their own 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 healthcare; Deplores that past adjustments and reforms implemented as part of aid conditionalities have contributed to the weakening of governments in their capacity to deliver effective public services, including health systems, in the most affected countries; deplores equally that legacies of inequitable development policies and practises have contributed to pervasive atmospheres of mistrust; Urges the Commission to help the three countries affected to develop their own 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 healthcare; in particular, takes the view that building a resilient health system over the long term requires among others: (i) investing resources in basic public health services, with the aim to strengthen disease surveillance and reduce the risk of transmission of infections; (ii) ensuring safe and quality care by increasing resources to train, supervise and pay health workers adequately as well as by giving access to safe drugs; (iii) engaging local stakeholders and communities in crisis response and development planning, with the aim to rebuild trust in the health sector;

Amendment 107 #

Motion for a resolution
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 108 #

Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5

Amendment 109 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)

5a. Considers in this regard coherent needs-based health plans for the respective affected countries as indispensable to build up functioning health systems; recognises the work done by the Commission, the WHO, the World Bank and other donors already to examine the respective country situation and the health situation; calls on the Commission to build up on this work and re-examine it where necessary and feasible by impact assessments in order to determine the health needs of the populations that is, the necessary number of health workers, hospital beds, laboratory facilities, water and sanitation services, mobile solutions for remote areas but also to provide a statistical overview over a sufficiently correct number of people, the different living conditions in different regions and the most frequent causes of death for adult and for children under five; calls on the Commission to establish in cooperation with partner countries, WHO, World Bank and other donors coherent health plans for the respective countries and to deliberate together how these plans can be implemented; calls on the Commission to establish monitoring procedures in order to follow up on the implementation and present regular reports on the implementation progress;

Amendment 11 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital A

A. whereas there are structural shortcomings in the health and education systems, in particular in the area of health education, in the three countries affected by the epidemic (Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea), which are also among those at the bottom of the UNDP's human development index, with around 80% of the countries' citizens living in extreme poverty; and whereas inequality is undermining health care and health;

Amendment 110 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 b (new)

5b. Welcomes the Commission's 2010 communication on the EU role in global health and its holistic vision on comprehensive health systems, its horizontal approach and its endeavour for universal health coverage; encourages the Commission to review this communication in the light of new insights gained during the Ebola crisis whereby keeping the comprehensive and horizontal approach and to present and implement a Programme for Action in a timely manner;

Amendment 111 #

Motion for a resolution
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 112 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Stresses, in general, the need for developing countries to give budgetary priority to setting up robust and resilient social security and health systems, building sustainable healthcare infrastructure (in particular laboratories) and offering high- quality basic services and healthcare;

Amendment 113 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Stresses, in general, the need for developing countries to give budgetary priority to setting up robust social security and health systems, building sustainable healthcare infrastructure (in particular laboratories) and offering high-quality basic services and healthcare; emphasises the need for sufficient health workers per population and calls on the governments of the affected countries to ensure that health workers are paid and that money for health reaches the people;

Amendment 114 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6

6. Stresses, in general, the need for developing countries to give budgetary priority to setting up robust social security and health systems, building sustainable healthcare infrastructure (in particular laboratories) and offering high-quality basic services and healthcare, especially where maternity care and obstetric and gynaecological services are concerned;

Amendment 115 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Points out that investment in the health sector is an important driver of economic development and contributes to poverty reduction in developing countries; welcomes the inclusion of Goal 3 ‘Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’ in the proposal for future Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), due to be adopted in September by the United Nations;

Amendment 116 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Stresses the need to analyse lessons learned with a gendered lens and promote medical and social responses that should respond to the specific and differentiated needs of women and men;

Amendment 117 #

Motion for a resolution
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 118 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6 a (new)

6a. Points to the importance of coordinating EU and private assistance for the purpose of training medical personnel on the ground;

Amendment 119 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses the importance of augmenting global epidemiological research capacity, developing 'quick tests' and providing access to vaccines; welcomes, in this regard, the fact that many EU research funds have been mobilised to fight against the Ebola virus, including through the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the Horizon 2020 programme and the EDCTP programme;

Amendment 12 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas people are still being infected with the virus in many parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone, while in Liberia the ~~fact that there have been~~WHO declared the Ebola virus over after detecting no new cases o~~ver~~f the ~~last month allows one to be cautiously optimistic that the worst may be over~~disease for 42 days;

Amendment 120 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7

7. Stresses the importance of augmenting global epidemiological research capacity, developing 'quick tests' and providing access to vaccines; underlines that although vaccines are welcome, they are most probably not suitable to eradicate Ebola, as the virus is mutating; stresses therefore, that funding priority has to be given to general health system strengthening, hygiene, containment, reliable quick testing in tropical settings and medication targeting the virus and the symptoms it causes;

Amendment 121 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Takes the view that the research agenda should be determined by priorities identified by the EU Scientific Panel for Health; stresses that panel members should be independent of financial interest that arise from other positions; underlines that in case of tropical disease, scientists of the affected countries should be included in the panel that do not represent third party financial interests; underlines that researchers with different disciplinary background should be part of the panel, such as physicians, epidemiologists, virologists, microbiologists, zoologists, veterinarians and ethnologists; stresses that research has to be done from the source which is, why not only profit-maximising applied research is needed, but as well fundamental research to understand root causes and the various aspects of phenomena and field studies;

Amendment 122 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)

7a. Stresses the crucial importance of prevention and information campaigns in managing the crisis, in particular in order to limit contamination;

Amendment 123 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 b (new)

7b. Urges all parties concerned to promote health training among the public by focusing on the issue of traditional customs that are incompatible with the fight against the spread of the disease among the population;

Amendment 124 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 c (new)

7c. Calls for all epidemiological crisis prevention and management programmes to pay special attention to women and children;

Amendment 125 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8

8. Calls for research infrastructure to be bolstered by the establishment of a regional infection disease research centre in West Africa and for inter-university cooperation to be established with the EU and its Member States;

Amendment 126 #

Motion for a resolution
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 127 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. S~~upports the introduction of universal health cover based on partnerships that will result in sustainable health systems~~tresses upon the need to tackle social inequality to build a resilient sustainable health system; to this end, Supports the introduction of publicly-funded universal health coverage;

Amendment 128 #

Motion for a resolution
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 129 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9

9. Supports the introduction of public universal health cover based on partnerships that will result in sustainable health systems;

Amendment 13 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas people are still being infected with the virus in many parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone, while ~~in Liberia the fact that there have been no new cases over the last month allows one to be cautiously optimistic that the worst may be over~~WHO has declared Liberia free of Ebola virus transmission on 9 May ;

Amendment 130 #

Linda McAVAN

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Calls on all countries to commit to Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and develop a plan identifying domestic resources and potential international funding to meet this goal; supports the target of scaling-up healthcare spending in all countries to the recognised minimum of $86 per person for essential health services;

Amendment 131 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 9 a (new)

9a. Urges the Commission to submit as soon as possible a programme for establishing universal health cover, which will guarantee the mutualisation of health risks;

Amendment 132 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 10

10. ~~Supports the idea of holding a donor conference under the auspices of the United Nations and the European Union with a view to making a swift response to the needs of the countries affected~~Welcomes the high-level international conference on Ebola held on 3 March 2015 under the organization of the EU and key partners with the aim of eradicating Ebola but also to assess the impacts on the affected countries in order to make sure that development aid builds up on humanitarian efforts;

Amendment 133 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Supports the idea of a 'Marshall Plan' to help kick-start those countries' economies; suggests to offer technical assistance to the administration to enhance the capacity and to ensure that money reaches the people and is not lost to corruption or other purposes;

Amendment 134 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11

11. Supports the idea of a 'Marshall Plan' to help kick-start those countries' economies while respecting their policy space to take development-related decisions in accordance with the demands of their populations and ensuring debt sustainability;

Amendment 135 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12

12. ~~Welcomes~~Insist on the need of international efforts to alleviate the international debt burden of the countries affected by the Ebola virus;

Amendment 136 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Believes that ~~European Development Fund programming for the three countries will need to be reviewed to take account of the numerous challenges to which the Ebola crisis has given ris~~the programming of the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) should be reviewed to ensure that investments in health and good governance become priority areas for development funding, not only for the countries affected by the Ebola virus but also for all other countries with fragile public infrastructure;

Amendment 137 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14

14. Believes that European Development Fund programming for the three countries will need to be reviewed to take account of the numerous challenges to which the Ebola crisis has given rise; welcomes the numerous calls for health system strengthening by EU representatives, institutions and member states; is concerned that health and water and sanitation are not among the focal sectors in the National Indicative Programmes of Liberia and Sierra Leone; calls on the Commission in this regard to monitor the implementation of health system strengthening and water and sanitation services in order to rededicate focal sectors after the mid-term review if necessary; recommends that the Commission pays attention to health in existent focal sectors, that is, e.g., strengthening health governance and health education in the framework of the respective focal sectors; calls on the Commission to not only formulate milestones, indicators and targets, but also establish mechanisms to monitor aid more closely in order to make sure that it serves its purposes;

Amendment 138 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 a (new)

14a. Highlights that the Ebola crisis proves once more that health is a global public good; calls on the EU to develop a flexible approach to intellectual property towards developing countries regarding health and access to medicine; in particular, acknowledges the right of developing countries to use the full TRIPS flexibilities, including compulsory licencing, by which a government allows a third party to produce, import or sell a patented product or process without the consent of the right holder, in exchange for the payment of a royalty;

Amendment 139 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 14 b (new)

14b. Urges the EU not to restrain the scope or the use of TRIPS flexibilities through bilateral and multilateral trade or investment agreements with developing countries; reasserts equally that governments and parliaments of developing countries must retain the right to regulate private investment, including the right to impose conditions on technology transfer that support the country's development;

Amendment 14 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B

B. whereas people are still being infected with the virus in many parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone, while in Liberia the fact that there have been no new cases over the last month allows one to be cautiously optimistic that the worst may be over; whereas despite this hopes, new incidents of cases show that the virus can persist at least for weeks and months after recovery in immune-privileged sites of the body, as the central nervous system, gonads and articular cartilage; whereas EBOV was found in semen and in ocular fluid of convalescent persons; whereas there are single evident cases of sexual transmission which indicates difficulties to eradicate the virus and to determine a point of time when countries really can be regarded as Ebola free;

Amendment 140 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15

15. Believes that the risk posed by the structural under-funding of EU non- military humanitarian action cannot be ignored during the mid-term review of the multiannual financial framework;

Amendment 141 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Takes note of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in July 2015 in Addis Ababa; encourages the Commission to deliberate together with other donors and partner countries about how to finance health system strengthening and universal health coverage, e.g., through establishing health facilities; calls on the Commission and the member states to base their aid decisions on the commitment to comprehensive health system strengthening; calls on the affected countries to take responsibility for their population and contribute to the development of health systems in using tax revenues and gains from the extraction of natural resources, whose potential to boost fiscal revenues is by and large not well exploited due to inadequacy of tax rules and unfair share of resource revenue between investors and governments;

Amendment 142 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)

15a. Stresses that fair tax financing is the most equitable and sustainable system for raising and distributing funding for healthcare; urges donors and international agencies, including the EU, to support countries to introduce effective measures to enable them to raise domestic resources via fair taxation; highlights that tax avoidance by large companies and the tax breaks they receive from governments cost developing countries around $100 billion a year; calls on governments and international donors, including the EU, to support reforming international tax rules to prevent tax evasion and illicit financial flows;

Amendment 143 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Co~~mmend~~ngratulates the humanitarian aid workers and medical staff on the ground who have risked their lives in the efforts to contain this major health crisis;

Amendment 144 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 16

16. Commends the humanitarian aid workers and medical staff who have risked their lives in the efforts to contain this major health crisis;

Amendment 145 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
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)

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 147 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)

17a. Calls on the Commission to explore alternative models to those based on patent monopolies when it comes to the development of drugs or vaccines product of PPPs, such as the IMI, that can guarantee patient accessibility to treatments, sustainability of health care budgets and an efficient response to crisis like the one caused by the Ebola virus or similar threats;

Amendment 148 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)

17a. Stresses that the EU shall promote effective and fair financing of research that benefits the health of all and ensures that innovations and interventions lead to affordable and accessible solutions; in particular, reiterates that models that dissociate costs of Research and Development and the prices of medicines should be explored including the opportunities for technology transfer to developing countries;

Amendment 149 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Reiterates the need to invest in neglected diseases; Calls accordingly on the Commission to step up the discussions on this issue and to make arrangements for wide-ranging cooperation between the public and private sectors, aiming at reinforcing national health systems and facilitating transfers of results to the population concerned ;

Amendment 15 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas still too little is known about the prevalence of EBOV in natural reservoir hosts, the transmission from the natural reservoir host of EBOV, transmission amongst humans, the EBOV's potential of mutation, the course of the infection, how to positively influence the course of the infection, late complications and long-term consequences, duration of infection risk emanating from convalescent patients, and other; whereas there is still not known enough about zoonoses in tropical environments as the Lofa region in West Africa in general that could potentially lead to dangerous pandemics; whereas also ethnographic research is useful in order to understand how communities work and how to reach people with different cultural backgrounds;

Amendment 150 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls accordingly on the Commission to ~~step up~~continue the discussions on this issue and to make arrangements for wide- ranging cooperation between the public and private sectors; welcomes in this regard the fact that to address the urgent need for research into new treatments, the EU has made available 138 million euros for projects developing clinical trials for new vaccines, rapid diagnostic tests and treatments under Horizon 2020 and the Innovative Medicines Initiative; commends the European pharmaceutical industry that has also committed important resources to support the research efforts:

Amendment 151 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18

18. Calls accordingly on the Commission to step up the discussions on this issue and to make arrangements for wide-ranging cooperation between the public and private sectors, provided safeguards measures are introduced to prevent that public private partnership harm vulnerable people in an unregulated market;

Amendment 152 #

Motion for a resolution
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 153 #

Charles GOERENS, Beatriz BECERRA BASTERRECHEA

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19

19. Calls on its relevant committee to monitor the crisis management measures being taken, in close cooperation with the EU's Ebola coordinator and after Parliament’s mission to West Africa, before submitting a final assessment based on well-defined criteria;

Amendment 154 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)

19a. Welcomes that IHR stresses the responsibility of each state party to respond to public health risks, to comply to the implementation plan and to accept assistance when necessary, but also the obligation of non-affected state parties to mobilize financial resources and support the affected states; underlines that Ebola and other epidemics are transnational threats that call for international cooperation; calls on the WHO to revise IHR with view to interdependent responsibility, financial support also for root causes as insufficient health systems, measures that prioritise safety over economic interests, but safeguard independent logistic supply of goods and medical personnel;

Amendment 155 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 b (new)

19b. Welcomes in the light of sketchy IHR implementation and lack of epidemiological surveillance the French Ripost Program "Network of Public Health Institutes in West Africa"; underlines the importance of interregional and international cooperation, most notably in the fields of data exchange, exchange of expertise, training for a decentralised health response and use of laboratory networks; calls on the Commission to join and support this network that links West African health ministries with the district level, but also with international entities as the European Union, CDC, World Bank and laboratories as the Institute Pasteur Network;

Amendment 156 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 c (new)

19c. Considers communities as fundamental part of a national surveillance and response network to epidemics; underlines that the disease has to be understood in order to gain confidence of the people and acceptance for measures, which is why therefore full insight in the course of the disease has to be made available; stresses that now that the outbreak is on a decline, while the virus stays in the gonads for months after recovery, sexual counselling and family planning has to be made available as part of the health system and education measures; believes that this will contribute to a better understanding, less fear amongst the people and just promote the insertion of survivors;

Amendment 157 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 d (new)

19d. Stresses the link between zoonoses and diseases in humans and suggests therefore to support veterinary services for cattle and to include veterinaries in surveillance networks and include findings in databases;

Amendment 16 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital B a (new)

Ba. whereas widespread confusion and prevailing misunderstandings about the causes and consequences of EVD have perpetuated the spread of the virus;

Amendment 17 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C

C. whereas the Ebola crisis is systemic at local and regional level and also at national and global governance level;

Amendment 18 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)

Ca. whereas in a large number of African countries, the health and education systems have deteriorated throughout the Structural Adjustment Programmes imposed by the IMF and World Bank, which required budget cuts in the public sector;

Amendment 19 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital C b (new)

Cb. whereas the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has shown that local and national health systems in low income countries do not have the means or resilience to respond to an infectious disease outbreak like Ebola; whereas strengthening global health systems has therefore become an integral part of global health governance;

Amendment 2 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 3 a (new)

– having regard to the Council conclusions on the EU role in Global Health of the 3011th Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels, 10 May 2010,

Amendment 20 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas by ~~14 April~~6 May 2015 more than 1~~0 699~~1 000 had died in the epidemic in the three countries concerned ~~and whereas economic growth in those countries has been severely affected by the health crisis~~;

Amendment 21 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D

D. whereas by 14 April 2015 more than 10 699 had died in the epidemic in the three countries concerned and whereas economic ~~growth~~and social development in those countries has been severely affected by the health crisis;

Amendment 22 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. having regard to the importance of culture and traditional customs in the management of the Ebola crisis[1] ; [1] Customs which, for example, prohibit the burning of dead bodies.

Amendment 23 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)

Db. whereas women and children were in a more vulnerable situation;

Amendment 24 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas the Ebola epidemic which affected West Africa is the largest and most complex outbreak in the history of the disease; whereas the WHO was first alerted to the outbreak of Ebola on 23 March 2014, but whereas it was only on 8 August that the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee declared it a public health emergency of international concern; whereas prior to this outbreak, Ebola had not been considered a major public health challenge;

Amendment 25 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas the number of deaths is higher among women than men and emerging evidence points to a huge effect of the disease on women, largely because of their role as mothers, caregivers, care workers, nurses, cross-border traders and economic agents in the agricultural and informal sectors;

Amendment 26 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)

Db. whereas the traditional role of caring for the elderly, children and sick puts women in direct risk of contracting the virus;

Amendment 27 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)

Dc. whereas, as in many other health emergencies, adolescent girls and young women are among the most marginalised and at-risk populations when outbreaks occur;

Amendment 28 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D d (new)

Dd. whereas the epidemic poses a serious threat to women´s engagement in economic activities and has affected women through loss of livelihoods, productivity in agriculture, trade (in particular cross-border trade), small business and service sector activities, leading to an increased vulnerability to poverty and diseases;

Amendment 29 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D e (new)

De. whereas the weakening of the health systems because of the epidemic has increased maternal deaths and reduced antenatal and neonatal care and health care providers are often reluctant to care for pregnant women because of their high vulnerability to the virus;

Amendment 3 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 4 a (new)

– having regard to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and to the 2011 EITI progress report of Sierra Leone, to the 2012 EITI progress report of Liberia and the 2012 EITI progress report of Guinea,

Amendment 30 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D f (new)

Df. whereas gender gaps in education has increased with school closures and girls dropout rates;

Amendment 31 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D a (new)

Da. whereas the magnitude of the catastrophe can be attributed to several factors, among which: the political failure of the affected countries to sound the alarm; the ill-adapted response of the international community, the shattering effects of closure of borders and restrictions on people; the ineffectiveness of the surveillance and alert mechanisms; the slow and poorly adapted response, once aid was eventually mobilised; the stark absence of leadership from the WHO; the lack of research and development into drugs, diagnostics and vaccines;

Amendment 32 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D b (new)

Db. whereas nearly 500 healthcare workers have died of Ebola in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, in countries suffering already from a serious shortfall of staff before the outbreak of the Ebola crisis;

Amendment 33 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital D c (new)

Dc. whereas the need to ensure that medical care remains available for people with illnesses and conditions other than Ebola (malaria, chronic diseases, obstetrics care, etc.) implies to implement stringent policies to protect health facilities and health workers, particularly in areas where they might come into contact with patients;

Amendment 34 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Recital E

Amendment 35 #

Motion for a resolution
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 36 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas many recovered patients have had to face stigmatisation both from their relatives as from society; whereas this situation specially affects children who have lost one or two parents, and many of them have been rejected by their surviving relatives for fear of infection;

Amendment 37 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital E a (new)

Ea. whereas there is a need to integrate epidemiology, public health and social science to draw appropriate lessons from the Ebola outbreak;

Amendment 38 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas in the first few months of the Ebola crisis, the humanitarian NGOs – Médecins Sans Frontières and the Red Cross in particular – were the most effective, best-informed and most experienced players and th~~ose most capable of~~erefore play~~ing~~ed a front-line role in initial efforts to combat the virus;

Amendment 39 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F

F. whereas in the first few months of the Ebola crisis, the humanitarian NGOs – Médecins Sans Frontières, Emergency and the Red Cross in particular – were the most effective, best-informed and most experienced players and those most capable of playing a front-line role in initial efforts to combat the virus;

Amendment 4 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)

– having regard to the statement of the WHO on the 9th of May 2015 on the end of the epidemic of the Ebola virus in Liberia;

Amendment 40 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)

Fa. whereas Ebola virus is not only a public health catastrophe but also has long-lasting psychological, social and economic effects for the countries concerned by the virus;

Amendment 41 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F b (new)

Fb. whereas following the death of a relative, rumours and fear surrounding Ebola virus for women and girls persists; whereas the loss of the parents are creating a growing number of orphans which experience difficulties in reintegrating themselves into their families and communities and may face repudiation and stigmatisation;

Amendment 42 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital F c (new)

Fc. whereas the closing of schools and the tendency for orphaned children to become caregivers in households risk creating a 'lost generation' of children deprived of formal education for long periods of time;

Amendment 43 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G

G. whereas with their know-how and their ability to work together, the humanitarian organisations showed that, when it is necessary at the start of a crisis, they can be ~~more~~very relevant and ~~more~~ effective ~~than the 'institutional players'~~;

Amendment 44 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital G a (new)

Ga. 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;

Amendment 45 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital H

~~H. whereas the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has proved that it has an effective logistics capability that could be used in future for early warning and response purposes as well;~~deleted

Amendment 46 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)

Ha. whereas the European Union and its Member States have allocated more than EUR 1.3 billion to tackle the Ebola virus, supplemented by aid provided directly in kind to the affected countries;

Amendment 47 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)

Ha. whereas the European Union, together with its Member States, has made available more than 1.39 billion euros to help contain the outbreak of Ebola virus disease in West Africa;

Amendment 48 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital H a (new)

Ha. whereas the safety of caregivers is essential for the international mobilisation of health workers;

Amendment 49 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital I

I. whereas the European Council ~~has~~ appointed an Ebola coordinator on 23 October 2014 in the person of the Commissioner responsible for humanitarian aid and crisis management, Mr Stylianides; whereas since 12 November 2014 he has visited the countries most affected, accompanied by the Commissioner for Health, Mr Andriukaitis;

Amendment 5 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 5 a (new)

– having regard to the WHO statement of 9 May 2015 declaring the Ebola virus in Liberia to be over,

Amendment 50 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital I

I. whereas the European Council has appointed an Ebola coordinator in October 2014;

Amendment 51 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital I a (new)

Ia. whereas EU emergency aid in response to the EVT pandemic could have been better, characterised as it was by the lack of rapid technical assistance on the ground, the unwillingness of Member States to cooperate and inadequate central EU coordination;

Amendment 52 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital J a (new)

Ja. taking into account the Guidance for Immunization Programmes in the African Region in the Context of Ebola, issued by WHO;

Amendment 53 #

Tomáš ZDECHOVSKÝ

Motion for a resolution
Recital K

K. whereas in a statement issued in April 2015 the WHO acknowledged that the world and the organisation itself were ~~poorly~~not good prepared to deal with a lengthy epidemic;

Amendment 54 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
Recital K a (new)

Ka. whereas the IMF structural adjustment policies bear some responsibility for the collapse of West African health care systems;

Amendment 55 #

Motion for a resolution
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)

Lb. whereas 2 billion people worldwide do not have access to the vaccines or treatments they need to stay alive and healthy;

Amendment 57 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital M

M. whereas ~~access to medicines and to research and development findings in this area must be geared exclusively to the needs of sufferers, whet~~infected people have to benefit from medicine, whereas the research agenda should be determined by the EU Scientific Panel for Health that was establisherd in ~~Europe or in developing countries~~the framework of the Horizon 2020;

Amendment 58 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital M

M. whereas access to medicines and to research and development findings in this area must be geared ~~exclusively~~, as a priority, to the needs of sufferers, whether in Europe or in developing countries;

Amendment 59 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital M a (new)

Ma. considering Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is the world's biggest Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in life sciences, with a budget of €3.3 Billion for the 2014-2024 period, out of which €1.638 Billion come from Horizon 2020;

Amendment 6 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 6 a (new)

– having regard to EU Regulation No 1291/2013 of 11 December 2013 establishing Horizon 2020 - the Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (2014-2020),

Amendment 60 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas ~~it is~~the trauma of Ebola has left people distrustful of health facilities and health workers fearful of resuming services and has left communities impoverished and suspicious, whereas the basic relaunching of health services is urgent; and whereas it is equally essential to set up robust health systems in all developing countries, which also implies solid training of the local medical staff;

Amendment 61 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas it is essential to set up robust health systems, including mutualisation of risks, in all developing countries;

Amendment 62 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital N

N. whereas it is essential to set up robust and effective health systems in all developing countries;

Amendment 63 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital O

O. whereas the Ebola crisis has dragged the countries in the area affected into recession and whereas in 2015 alone, according to the World Bank, the GDP of the three countries worst affected will be reduced by USD 2 bn as a result;

Amendment 64 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital O

O. whereas the Ebola crisis has dragged the countries in the area affected deeper into recession;

Amendment 65 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital Q

~~Q. whereas some NGOs have called on the World Bank to raise some USD 1.7 billion in order to help those countries to make lasting improvements to their healthcare infrastructure;~~deleted

Amendment 66 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R a (new)

Ra. whereas the health systems of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea contain massive gaps, and whereas the three countries already before the outbreak scored highest in the world in premature adult and under five mortality rates, mainly for treatable conditions such as diarrhoea, malaria, perinatal complications and a variety of others; whereas the number of health workers and health facilities is amongst the lowest in the world; whereas the countries' capacity to deal with epidemics has generally to be considered insufficient;

Amendment 67 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R b (new)

Rb. whereas good hygiene practices are indispensable and effective in preventing the transmission of infections through the faecal-oral route; whereas however the three countries lack sufficiently working water and sanitation systems; whereas hygiene facilities have to be considered as part of a sustainable health system;

Amendment 68 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R c (new)

Rc. whereas medical experts, researchers, the international community, and particularly the European Unions, identified the lack of functioning health systems as the main reason why the outbreak could not be stopped at an early stage and therefore as a reason for the scale of the epidemic and whereas it is to be feared that in case of any other outbreak, the scale of death toll would reoccur;

Amendment 69 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R d (new)

Rd. whereas the High Representative/ Vice-President Federica Mogherini, the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and EU Ebola Coordinator Christos Stylianides, the European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development Neven Mimica, Members of the European Parliament, governments and parliamentarians of the member states repeatedly called for health system strengthening;

Amendment 7 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 a (new)

– having regard to the WHO's International Health Regulations (IHR) of 2005 (WA 32.1),

Amendment 70 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R e (new)

Re. whereas the European Union is the biggest donor of development aid in the world; whereas the EU dedicated almost 1.4 billion Euros to the Ebola crisis; whereas this amount enables the EU to negotiate with partner countries and other donors to support comprehensive national health system development effectively that builds up on a coherent, inclusive, needs- based strategy;

Amendment 71 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R f (new)

Rf. whereas under the 11th EDF health system strengthening and strengthening of water and sanitation services are only among the focal sectors for Guinea, but not for Liberia and Sierra Leone;

Amendment 72 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R g (new)

Rg. whereas the 2010 European Commission's Communication presents a comprehensive and holistic, needs-based global health strategy that was endorsed by the member states;

Amendment 73 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R h (new)

Rh. whereas Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea are countries with vast natural resources such as iron ore, diamonds, gold, bauxite, timber and other;

Amendment 74 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R i (new)

Ri. whereas not all states fully implemented the IHR; whereas IHR should be revised after gaining experience during the latest Ebola epidemic; whereas a single infected person arriving in Lagos by plane set off a chain of transmission with 19 infected people, of whom 7 died; whereas, according to a research article in 1982, Ebola was at least prevalent in Western Africa back then; whereas most probably increased mobility also from remote areas in the present days led to rapid spread of Ebola, multiplied chains of transmission and subsequently to the scale of the epidemic;

Amendment 75 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R j (new)

Rj. whereas little is known about potentially dangerous zoonoses in the tropical rain forest in the Liberian Lofa district and border region to Sierra Leone and Guinea; whereas it is estimated that 70 per cent of infectious diseases in animals has zoonotic potential that is, can be under circumstances transmitted to humans;

Amendment 76 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R k (new)

Rk. whereas food and agricultural practices, deforestation, trade of animals or animal product lead to the emergence of newly evolving zoonotic diseases such as avian influenza, Ebola, and HIV;

Amendment 77 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R l (new)

Rl. whereas the WHO recommends coordination between public health and veterinary sectors;

Amendment 78 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R a (new)

Ra. taking into account next November´s delegation to Sierra Leone from the DEVE committee;

Amendment 79 #

Motion for a resolution
Recital R a (new)

Ra. whereas female nurses represent the majority of health staff who have been infected and died from the virus; whereas the humanitarian crisis has put a drain on healthcare facilities, equipment and personnel;

Amendment 8 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 b (new)

– having regard to the French Ripost Program "Network of Public Health Institutes in West Africa",

Amendment 80 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. ~~Critici~~Stresses the ~~international community's failure to react properly, or at all,~~response and commitment of the European Union and its Member States since March 2014 to help contain the propagation of the Ebola virus, but nonetheless deplores the slow international response to the crisis during the first few months ~~of the crisis~~;

Amendment 81 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1

1. Criticises the international community's failure to react properly, or at all, during the first few months of the crisis; points out that although the EC was engaged from the very start of the crisis, the response of the Member States has been slow in the beginning; welcomes and encourages in this regard the ongoing scaling-up of the EU and its Member States’ financial commitment in the areas of humanitarian and development aid, logistics and research to respond to the crisis;

Amendment 82 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on ~~the heads of~~all parties concerned, particularly governments of developing countries, European institutions and international organisations, to learn from this situation and to develop effective means of dealing with international health crises;

Amendment 83 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the heads of international organisations to learn from this situation, including the negative impacts of the conditionalities of IMF and the World Bank of the Structural Adjustment Facilities on the health sectors in developing countries, and to develop effective means of dealing with international health crises;

Amendment 84 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the EU countries and heads of international organisations to learn from this situation and to develop effective means of dealing promptly with international health crises;

Amendment 85 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2

2. Calls on the heads of international organisations to learn from this ~~situation~~crisis and to develop effective means of dealing with international health crises;

Amendment 86 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. In this context, notes the reform announced by the Director of the WHO on 18 May 2015, particularly the establishment of a new emergency programme and a world reserve of staff who can be deployed quickly on the ground, and the establishment of a new reserve fund of USD 100 m specifically for emergencies; welcomes the commitment to increase the WHO’s budget by 10% within two years, bringing it to USD 4.5 bn;

Amendment 87 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Calls for gender responsive development policies, which should pay attention to the gender dimension of the impact of Ebola and the recovery efforts. The response should address the underlying gaps in women´s representation, access to health and services and the disruption to livelihoods, while recognising the potential of women as agents of change in the recovery from Ebola;

Amendment 88 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Stresses the need for gender disaggregated socio-economic data, to inform policy and programming and to develop gender sensitive strategies that can address the associated negative impact of Ebola on women and girls;

Amendment 89 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2c. Stresses the importance of the involvement of women in Ebola response actions, including efforts to raise awareness about the disease and discuss prevention and eradication;

Amendment 9 #

Motion for a resolution
Citation 8 c (new)

– having regard to the recommendations from WHO's consultation on zoonoses of 5 May 2004,

Amendment 90 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 a (new)

2a. Calls on the international community to promote information and education campaigns in the countries concerned, and largely in high risk countries of the region, to make aware of unsafe practices that should be avoided, and to spread accurate information that helps limit the risk of infection in a manner that does not interfere with local customs;

Amendment 91 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 b (new)

2b. Expresses its concern over the fact that information about EVD and its spread is not reaching everyone because of poor literacy; stresses the importance of alternative means of disseminating information, for example by providing more information over the radio; notes a degree of mistrust on the part of authorities in the affected area, and stresses the importance of providing essential medical treatment in rural areas as well;

Amendment 92 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 2 c (new)

2c. Welcomes and thanks all the humanitarian NGOs – Médecins Sans Frontières, Emergency and the Red Cross in particular – for their work;

Amendment 93 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Takes the view that, once emergency assistance is no longer required, the EU’s long-term response should focus first on development assistance, which will need to include investment in the health and other sectors, particularly the organisation and management of health systems, health monitoring and information or systems to supply medicines, and then on the assistance that is essential in order to get the three countries' economies back on their feet;

Amendment 94 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Takes the view that, once emergency assistance is no longer required, the EU response should focus first on development assistance, which will need to include investment in ~~the~~ health ~~and other sectors~~, domestic governance and state-building and then on the assistance that is essential in order to get the three countries' economies back on their feet;

Amendment 95 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3

3. Takes the view that, once emergency assistance is no longer required, the EU response should focus first on development assistance, which will need to include investment in the health ~~and other sectors~~sector to promote resilience and then on the assistance that is essential in order to get the three countries' economies back on their feet;

Amendment 96 #

Judith SARGENTINI, Heidi HAUTALA, Maria HEUBUCH, Michèle RIVASI

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Calls on the authorities to take into account the lessons learnt concerning the stigmatisation phenomenon and implement them in similar humanitarian crisis which may occur;

Amendment 97 #

Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 3 a (new)

3a. Reminds also of the importance of conflict prevention as conflicts and fragility have a very negative impact on health systems;

Amendment 98 #

Lola SÁNCHEZ CALDENTEY, Josu JUARISTI ABAUNZ, Ignazio CORRAO

Motion for a resolution
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 99 #