UN chief appoints special envoy for Ebola, head of UNMEER

Dr David Nabarro, senior UN Coordinator for Ebola, gestures during a news conference on Ebola at the United Nations in Geneva, Sept 16, 2014. [Photo/Agencies]

UNITED NATIONS - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday announced the appointment of David Nabarro as his Special Envoy for Ebola and Anthony Banbury as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER).

In his vital role, Nabarro will "provide strategic and policy direction for a greatly enhanced international response and will galvanize essential support for affected communities and countries," Ban's spokesman said in the announcement.

With more than 30 years' experiences in public health, nutrition and development work at country, regional and global levels, Nabarro of Unite Kingdom has held positions in non-governmental organizations, universities, national governments and the United Nations system.

He served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Food Security and Nutrition and Coordinator of the SUN Movement. Nabarro's other recent positions include Senior Coordinator for Avian and Pandemic Influenza from 2005 to 2014 and coordinator of the UN's High Level Task Force on Global Food Security from 2009 to 2014. Last month he was appointed as Senior UN Coordinator for Ebola.

Under Banbury's leadership, UNMEER, the new mission, will "provide the operational framework and unity of purpose to ensure the rapid, effective and coherent action necessary to stop the Ebola outbreak, to treat the infected, to ensure essential services, to preserve stability and to prevent the spread to countries currently unaffected," the announcement said.

Banbury brings more than 25 years of experiences in political, peacekeeping, and emergency management roles across several different regions and organizations, said the spokesman.

He has served as Assistant Secretary-General for Field Support since June 2009. He also served as Acting Deputy Special Representative in United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) after the 2010 earthquake, and was the Asia Regional Director for the World Food Program in Bangkok from 2003 to 2009, where he managed humanitarian relief and development operations in 14 countries. He also was an integral part of the relief operations for the 2004 tsunami and the 2008 Cyclone Nargis.

Nabarro and Banbury will work closely in support of the governments in the region and other partners in pursuit of these critical objectives, said the announcement.

These appointments follow the recent unanimous adoption of Security Council resolution 2177 and a General Assembly resolution on the Ebola outbreak. They are made following close consultations with Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to WHO, 5,843 cases and 2,803 deaths have been reported in the current outbreak by the Ministries of Health of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.