Reuters reports, the bank has said the virus caused $500 million in damages across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. While a large amount of money, this cost is just a fraction of the $25 billion in damages that were first expected. This is great news for the nations, as the governments make more progress towards fighting, and hopefully eventually eradicating, the disease.
The first case of Ebola took place 13 months ago when a toddler in Guinea became diagnosed with hemorrhagic fever. Soon after, it spread throughout a plethora of countries all throughout West Africa. As with any disease, it created financial problems for the nations trying to fight it. Overall, the disease has taken 8,000 lives, and it still exists in some places. However, some countries, such as Nigeria, Mali and Senegal, have succeeded in completely eradicating it. Even so, the financial impact continues on countries that are still effected.
An earlier World Bank Group economic analysis (from October 8, 2014) found that the West Africa region alone could experience a downside scenario of US$25 billion in economic losses in 2015, but the current report estimates the range for sub-Saharan Africa as a whole to be from a low of US$500 million to a high of US$6.2 billion.
The national and international responses have resulted in a number of public health improvements within the three West African nations, including safer burial practices, earlier case detections, more health workers and treatment facilities, public awareness campaigns and stepped-up contact tracing. These policy and behavior responses have contributed to a lower risk of spread across borders. The lower estimates also reflect fast and effective containment measures taken in the neighboring countries of Mali, Nigeria and Senegal, all of which have now been declared Ebola-free.
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