French development secretary Annick Girardin will be “the first” European minister to visit the west African region worst hit by the deadly Ebola virus when she touches down in Guinea on Saturday, reports FRANCE 24.
During her visit to the Guinean capital Conakry, the junior minister is scheduled to visit Ebola units and meet with healthcare workers to discuss France's contribution in the battle to halt the epidemic which has so far claimed almost 2,400 lives in the three nations worst hit by the fast-spreading virus: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
“I’m the first European minister to set foot” in the region since the start of the epidemic, Girardin told FRANCE 24’s sister station RFI in an interview ahead of the trip. “France can be proud,” she exclaimed.
Girardin's visit follows a call from the World Health Organization (WHO), urging the international community to respond more quickly to stop the epidemic from spiraling out of control.
"I'm going to Guinea first to say that France is with them. And that's not an insignificant message," she told a news conference in Senegal's capital, Dakar, on Friday.
Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.