Press Release: Commission provides EUR500,000 in humanitarian aid to help tackle Marburg outbreak in Angola

The European Commission on 1 April 2005 allocated €500,000 for emergency measures aimed at preventing the spread of the Marburg virus in Angola. The province of Uige in the north of the country had been struck by a serious outbreak of the deadly haemorrhagic disease which has a mortality rate of more than 90%. The aid was being provided through ECHO, the Commission's Humanitarian Aid department. It involved the use of the fast-track 'primary emergency' procedure that enables a speedy humanitarian response in sudden onset crises.