Bahrain has contributed around $1 million to a United Nations (UN) fund to fight Ebola.

The UN Ebola Response Multi-Partner Trust Fund, which now totals almost $1 billion, is meant to "ensure a coherent UN system contribution to the overall Ebola outbreak response", according to the UN.

The Cabinet yesterday (November 16) approved a memorandum, presented by Foreign Affairs Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, to support UN efforts in the fight against the deadly virus, which has claimed more than 5,100 lives this year, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"We are contributing to the United Nations Special Fund for the Fight against Ebola, aiming in particular to provide treatment to those infected with the Ebola virus, provide basic services to the communities suffering from Ebola and provide security and stability to these communities," said Minister of State for Information Affairs and official government spokeswoman Sameera Rajab.

"I am not sure of the exact figure that was donated, but it was approximately $1 million."

She was speaking during a Press conference at Gudaibiya Palace following yesterday's weekly Cabinet session.

The GDN reported last Wednesday that a visiting World Health Organisation (WHO) team encouraged better training for airport staff to prevent a possible Ebola outbreak in Bahrain.

WHO Eastern Mediterranean Health System Observatory communication officer Inas Hamam said that Bahrain needed to scale up its drills and training of staff.

He also emphasised that they need to be trained continuously because the airport has a high turnover, and added that new staff need to be trained from the old staff and kept abreast of the procedures and practices.

According to the latest WHO statistics, there has been more than 14,000 reported Ebola cases - largely confined to the worst-hit nations of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

The Cabinet reviewed ongoining awareness-raising programmes on the dangers of the sickle cell disease, stressing the importance of the role played by society in reducing the number of patients.

In this regard, the Health Minister delivered a presentation showing that the number of sickle cell patients in the kingdom is decreasing thanks to the government's tireless efforts to provide treatment and care for them.

The ministers praised the progress made Bahrain in implementing the resolutions of the Supreme Council of the GCC, noting that it has completed the implementation of all GCC resolutions, and issued the necessary legislative tools and published them in the Official Gazette.

The stances were expressed following a memo presented by the Minister of Shura Council and Parliament Affairs on the work of the ministerial committee for follow-up on the implementation of the GCC Supreme Council's resolutions. - TradeArabia News Service