Paychecks weapons vs. Ebola?

Timely salaries for frontliners crucial in battle against epidemic

A WORKER who is paid well and on time will always be more effective and productive.

A United Nations organization says that timely payment of salaries of Ebola frontline workers are as crucial in the battle against the Ebola epidemic itself.

In an emailed advisory, Tuesday, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reports that they are helping in coordination efforts to ensure that the Ebola frontline responders are paid on time.

Helen Clark, UNDP administrator, points out that the success in the overall response depends largely on the women and men who have been risking their lives in containing the disease.

“Paying them in a timely manner is crucial. That helps to sustain them and their families, and it ensures a steady inflow of personnel who can help stop this disease outbreak,” says Clark.

The affected countries in West Africa include Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria.

Clark adds that in Sierra Leone, their technical advisors have already assisted the government with two nationwide payments last November of more than 12,000 response workers. In Guinea and Liberia, she said, efforts are underway to validate the lists of workers and reinforce existing payment systems in the respective countries.

HELEN CLARK, UNDP administrator, points out that the success in the overall response depends largely on the women and men who have been risking their lives in containing the disease | GRAPHICS FROM CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL

The UNDP—together with the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER) and the respective national authorities leading in the containment of the disease—is tracking payments and improving existing systems through which payments are being delivered to the Ebola response workers.

“The objective is not only to support governments—which handle payrolls—and partners to continue to pay the workers’ salaries and incentives on time, but also to strengthen and develop systems that will expand access to affordable financial services after this medical emergency is over,” the UNDP advisory reads.

First reported in March, this year, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has become the deadliest resurgence of the disease since its discovery in 1976.

According to the latest report of the World Health Organization (WHO), the disease has already claimed 6,928 lives—probable, confirmed and suspected which includes one death in US and six in Mali. Although, the WHO admits that the real status of the epidemic could be much greater since they have been having difficulty in collecting real-time data.

Ebola outbreaks in Nigeria and Senegal are officially over, the WHO declares, as there have been no new cases reported since early September.

In its website [http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/outbreaks/2014-west-africa/index.html?s_cid=cs_4926], the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) labeled the epidemic as “the largest in history.” The CDC is working with other US government agencies, the WHO, and other domestic and international partners.

Here in the Philippines, 133 Filipino soldiers deployed as UN peacekeepers in Ebola-stricken Liberia were quarantined in Caballo Island, off the coast of Cavite province. Upon their arrival, the soldiers immediately underwent thermal scanning and were not allowed to meet their families.

The soldiers were quarantined for the mandatory 21-day incubation period of the disease. None of the soldiers, however, tested positive for the Ebola virus.

Aside from ensuring the timely payment of Ebola responders, the UNDP will also make welfare payments to communities affected by the disease. They will be zeroing-in on the survivors and families who lost relatives or are helping orphaned children, as well as groups who lost their livelihoods as a result of the outbreak.

“The socio-economic impact of the Ebola medical emergency will be felt long after the crisis has ended. It is already affecting the means of making a living of millions of the poorest and most vulnerable people in these countries, as well as the ability of governments to provide basic services to their populations,” the same UNDP advisory reads.

The UNDP has been partnering with people at all levels of society since 1966. It helps build resilient nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. Its four main focus areas are: poverty reduction and achievement of the millennium development goals; democratic governance; crisis prevention and recovery; and environment and energy for sustainable development. Cong B. Corrales