Since June
2014, the General Board of Global Ministries’ United Methodist Committee on
Relief (UMCOR) and Global Health unit have been working in collaboration on a
global scale to coordinate an integrated approach in response to the Ebola
crisis in West Africa.
Community
education about the disease, health worker protection and psychosocial
counseling for affected people and their families are the strategy’s three
prongs, said Dr. Olusimbo Ige, of Global Health.
To date,
UMCOR and Global Health have worked together to ensure that grants totaling
$400,000 for educational programs, protective equipment and other Ebola-related
supplies have been provided primarily to United Methodist health boards in
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.
“Our approach
is to work closely with United Methodist health boards in affected countries,
listening closely to them as they identify needs and strategies we can
support,” said Rev. Jack Amick, UMCOR executive who heads the organization’s
International Disaster Response unit.
Amick is in
charge of disbursing UMCOR emergency funds, while Ige advises that distribution
in the case of the Ebola response. Together, they hold a weekly conversation by
telephone with the United Methodist health boards in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It has become
apparent to the international humanitarian community and the governments
involved with this crisis that the epidemic will likely have a long-term
negative impact on the health systems, economies and social practices of these
countries.
Global
Ministries is partnering with local health boards, bishops, missionaries, UMCOR
technical offices and others to enable a long-term approach that not only
responds to the current Ebola crisis but, also, helps strengthen healthcare
capacity in the region to make it better prepared to meet any possible future
crisis.
This
long-term, integrated approach reflects the established standard for response
to health crises and issues of sustainable development. To financially support
these immediate and long-term goals, please write “Ebola response” in the memo
section of your check. This will ensure that funds go where intended.
(A news release from The United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries)
