(Transcript from World News Radio)
The leaders of the three West African countries worst affected by the Ebola outbreak have appealed for international help to repair their economies and health sectors.
It comes after the number of new infections from Ebola has dropped significantly.
Greg Dyett has the details.
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It's killed almost 10,000 people, and in the process Ebola has devastated the economies of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
While international donors have pledged nearly $5-billion, less than half of that money has actually materialised.
Speaking in Brussels, at an international conference on the Ebola outbreak, the European Union's policy chief Federica Mogherini made it clear Ebola has had wide-ranging affects.
"It has not been just the death toll and the cost to families and communities that has done damage. But the economic effects for the region as a whole for entire countries, be it in terms of investment, tourism and trade."
Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf told the conference the most important long-term response to Ebola rests in plans and strategies for economic recovery.
She says this will require significant resources, perhaps even on the scale of the Marshall Plan a reference to the massive aid program launched for Europe after the Second World War.
"The disease struck down the best in our society: doctors, teachers, mothers, religious leaders, those upon whom communities depend. It robbed us of our ability to care for others that which defines our own humanity."
Ebola admission rates in some parts of West Africa have reversed in recent times.
But the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres says the reversal doesn't actually mean the outbreak is under control.
MSF program director Dorion Job says there's still a lot to be done including rebuilding health infrastructure.
He says the need to prioritise Ebola has meant other work, like vaccination programs, have suffered.
"There is already an urgent need now since more than since almost one year where the health system has been totally disrupted like vaccination, closing over public structure etc etc so there is really, really a need to re-open the health structure for life-saving services to launch a vaccination when you know that sometimes the vaccination has been interrupted for almost one year, completely."
Sierra Leone's President Ernest Bai Koroma says victory against the virus is in sight, but there's no place for complacency.
"The priorities now is one getting to a resilient zero, two rebuilding our health sector, three getting our kids to school and four providing social protection for the most vulnerable and sustaining recovery from Ebola through expanding our fiscal space, restoring agricultural activities and supporting the private sector."
Mr Koroma told the delegates increased co-operation between countries is essential.
"The greatest fortress against this outbreak is not closed borders but greater coordination and strengthening of specific health interventions in countries vulnerable to specific types of viral outbreaks."
The International Monetary Fund has just pledged a $187 million package for Sierra Leone with half to be distributed immediately.
The World Bank estimates the epidemic will cost the three countries $1.6 billion in lost economic growth.
That equates to more than 12 per cent of their combined output.
Liberia's President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf says the three countries believe a regional approach to recovery is best and they'll be drawing up a regional recovery plan to present at next month's meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.
After thanking the delegates for their commitment, she concluded with a comment that underscored the main message - the Ebola challenge is ongoing and Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea face an uncertain future.
"We know and we thank you for your commitment. Be aware, that when your phone rings, on the other line, could be one of us."
