Ebola Update - Noon Briefing (12 January 2014)

United Nations - Ebola Update by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.
EBOLA UPDATE
On Ebola, two new World Bank Group reports issued today show that the socio-economic impacts of the outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone are far-reaching and persistent.
In Liberia, the economy continues to shed jobs faster than they are replaced, with nearly half of Liberian household heads remaining out of work. Women are particularly vulnerable as the labor market stagnates and there are new concerns about the farmers’ ability to organize work teams given Ebola fears.

In Sierra Leone, the World Bank Group report found that wage and non-farm self-employed workers saw the largest declines in employment in urban areas. An estimated 9,000 wage workers and 170,000 self-employed workers outside of agriculture are no longer working since July/August 2014. Food insecurity is also high and there is some evidence of a decrease in utilization of health services for non-Ebola conditions in Freetown.
The reports are based on the data collected throughout continuous mobile-phone surveys.
Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that the total number of people facing food insecurity due to Ebola could top 1 million by March 2015 unless access to food is drastically improved.
In December 2014 by itself, WFP distributed food to more than 720,000 people across the three main Ebola-affected countries.
Global Ebola Response: