Fourteen African artistes have come together under the banner of The One Campaign to pressure African leaders to do more in the fight against the Ebola epidemic in West Africa.
They have produced a video in which they are urging heads of government on the continent to quickly take action to strengthen national health systems to prevent and contain future outbreaks.
In the video, Akon (Senegal) Fally Ipupa (DRC), Angelique Kidjo (Benin), Danai Gurira (Zimbabwe) Ice Prince, Femi Kuti, Desmond Elliot and Dotun (Nigeria), Mafikizolo and T-bo Touch (South Africa), Victoria Kimani (Kenya), Diamond (Tanzania) and Magasco (Cameroon) are joined by a nurse who treated Ebola patients and an Ebola survivor in making this call.
The completely silent video highlights how the world waited too long to act, and over 5,000 lives were lost as a result. It stresses that we cannot wait any longer for the delivery of commitments made, if this fight against Ebola is to succeed, and ends with a call to action for citizens to sign One’s petition, asking the leaders to step up effort in the fight.
Executive Director of One Africa, Sipho Moyo, said the world’s initial response to the Ebola outbreak was too slow, too uncoordinated and, as a result, too costly if one considers that 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.
“However, given the magnitude of the crisis, there is need to scale up the commitment both in cash and in kind; and in the long run the need to invest in strengthening of national health systems across most of our African countries cannot be overstated, if we are to avoid similar outbreaks in the future,” he stated.
One is a campaigning and advocacy organisation backed by more than six million people taking action to end extreme poverty and preventable disease, particularly in Africa.