WFP needs $70m to feed 1.3 million people in Ebola quarantine

The World Food Programme (WFP) needs to raise $70 million to feed 1.3 million people at risk from shortages in Ebola-quarantined areas in West Africa, with the agency’s resources already stretched by several major humanitarian crises, its regional director said.

WFP’s West Africa Director Denise Brown said the organisation was currently providing food for around 150,000 people in Ebola-striken nations but needed to rapidly scale that up as the worst ever epidemic of the virus advanced.

Senegal on Friday became the fifth country to confirm it had been touched by the outbreak that has infected more than 3,000 people – killing some 1,550 of them – since it was detected in March. The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday the outbreak could infect a total of

Africa tightens Ebola travel curbs as affected countries face food shortages

African countries tightened travel curbs on Thursday in an effort to contain the Ebola outbreak, ignoring World Health Organization warnings that such measures could heighten shortages of food and basic supplies in affected areas.

In the West Point slum in Liberia’s capital Monrovia, the scene of violent clashes with the army on Wednesday after the area was quarantined to curb the spread of Ebola, hundreds of people jostled their way towards trucks loaded with water and rice.

Police used canes to beat back some locals while aid workers helped others dip their fingers in ink to record their ration.

“I ain’t eat since yesterday. I have four young children and none of us eat. I feel bad,” said Hawa Saah, a pregnant 23-year-old resident of West Point, speaking in