Abstract
The West African sub-region experienced the World’s largest Ebola outbreak after its maiden outbreak in Central Africa. In this background, economic activities were heavily affected hence intra-regional trade shares of affected countries. Given this, the study seeks to investigate the effect of the Ebola Virus on affected countries’ shares to intra-regional trade. Additionally, the study seeks to investigate the impact of ECOWAS membership on trade in West Africa. The Poison Pseudo Maximum Likelihood (PPML) was used to estimate the augmented gravity model of international trade. The results showed that the Ebola Virus Disease reduced the share of affected countries’ trade to intra-regional partners by two folds. Also, the study showed that ECOWAS membership doubles the level of trade. The study concludes that the ECOWAS should be proactive in their response to disease outbreak by investing in research. Additionally, the study shows that Mauritania will benefit from opting for the ECOWAS.
Highlights
The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), formerly Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe and fatal illness with a mortality rate of 25%90% (Etuk, 2015; Tseng and Chan, 2015; Bell et al, 2016)
The analysis shows that the variables of interests have a significant effect on trade in West Africa
The study showed that the EVD reduced trade export shares of affected countries to their intra-regional partners by two folds
Summary
The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), formerly Ebola hemorrhagic fever is a severe and fatal illness with a mortality rate of 25%90% (Etuk, 2015; Tseng and Chan, 2015; Bell et al, 2016). The virus is primarily transmitted to humans through contact with bodily fluids of infected animals and secondarily through humans. These include contact with blood, mucus, saliva, vomit, sweat, fever, urine, breast milk, semen, vaginal secretions, feces, deceased body, urine of recovered patient among others (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2014; Baize et al, 2014; WHO, 2018; ILO, 2018). The five species of the Ebola virus, which originates from the family Filoviridae, have been pinpointed by the World Health Organization (WHO), notably the Zaire ebolavirus, Sudan ebolavirus, Taï Forest ebolavirus, Reston ebolavirus
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