Diamond, African stars to demand action on Ebola

Tanzanian Nassib Abdul ‘Diamond’ is among thirteen African artists that will be brought together to release a video to mobilise the continent’s leaders to do more and quickly to fight the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and take action to strengthen national health systems to prevent and contain future outbreaks.

According to information released over the weekend by ONE Africa media manager Idriss Nassah, other artists include Akon (Senegal), Fally Ipupa (DRC), Angelique Kidjo (Benin), Danai Gurira (Zimbabwe) Ice Prince, Femi Kuti, Desmond Elliot and Doutn (Nigeria); Mafikizolo and T-bo Touch (South Africa), Victoria Kimani (Kenya), Magasco (Cameroon) and they will be joined by a nurse who treated Ebola patients and an Ebola survivor in making this call .

 “They will appear in a video which reiterates the call by African Union Commission Chairperson, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, for all African leaders  to  take more responsibility and act urgently by providing more trained personnel, materials, financing and international coordination to all affected countries.

ONE’s campaign is focused on ensuring governments deliver their pledges and increase their response,’’ said Nassah.

 According to Nassah, the video, which is completely silent, highlights how the world waited too long to act, and over 5,000 lives were lost as a result.

However, they cannot wait any longer for the delivery of commitments made if this fight against Ebola is to succeed.

 “The video ends with a call to action for citizens to sign petition. The petition asks world leaders to step up and provide more trained personnel, materials, financing and international coordination to help stop Ebola.  We are calling on African citizens to add their voices by signing the petition urging African and world leaders to do more,’’ he added.

 The report has quoted Dr Sipho Moyo, executive director of ONE Africa, who said the world’s initial response to the Ebola outbreak was too slow, too uncoordinated and as a result over 5,000 lives were lost.

“We need to see an acceleration of coordinated efforts if we are to stop Ebola in its tracks. In the spirit of African solidarity, our leaders have stood with the people of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea in their fight against Ebola,’’ he said.

Further the report also quoted Congolese musician Fally Ipupa who also said: "We are waiting for African nations to heed the African Union call to step up and lead the way, effectively responding to this heartbreaking crisis.

“DRC stopped Ebola. Nigeria Stopped Ebola. The countries still affected need all African countries to do more to stop it there, starting with sending more healthcare workers to the affected countries. This is a humanitarian crisis that demands the attention of not only the entire continent, but the entire world."

 The video is launched alongside ONE’s Ebola Response Tracker” which has got a number of findings on global and African contributions to the Ebola
fight.