Africa-Press. The British Foreign Office announced the allocation of up to £20 million ($26.87 million) in new aid funding to help contain the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
As of Wednesday, 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths have been recorded in Congo, with 51 laboratory-confirmed cases, in addition to two cases in neighboring Uganda. The World Health Organization has predicted that the outbreak will continue.
The British Foreign Office stated that this funding will assist the World Health Organization, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organizations in enhancing surveillance, protecting frontline healthcare workers, and improving infection prevention and control.
The UK Health Security Agency is assessing the ways travelers enter the UK from affected countries and has activated a program to protect and monitor the health of individuals traveling from the UK to affected areas for work.
On Tuesday, the US State Department announced it would fund up to 50 “rapid response” treatment clinics to combat Ebola in the affected areas of Congo and Uganda, where cases have also been reported.
The department stated in a statement that this decision underscores “Washington’s steadfast commitment to ensuring that this response is fully equipped, rapid, and collaborative among key global partners in health and humanitarian efforts.”
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization reported that it has airlifted 12 tons of medical supplies, with six more tons expected to arrive. Responders fighting the 17th outbreak of the Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo say that even basic supplies are scarce, ranging from pain relievers to motorcycles for tracking contacts, and masks, complicating efforts to control the disease.
The rare Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus spread for weeks without being detected in northeastern Congo before the first samples showed positive results last week, and relief organizations are now rushing to deliver supplies to Ituri, the conflict-affected province from which the outbreak originated.
Investment shortages in public health infrastructure are common in Ituri, although some relief organizations partially blame the current shortfall on cuts to foreign aid, particularly the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) last year.
Heather Riosh Kerr, director of the Congo office at the International Rescue Committee, stated, “Funding cuts have left the region in a very precarious situation.” Some activities that were previously supported by donor funding, including the provision of personal protective equipment for health facilities, have significantly declined, and today many facilities in the affected areas are operating without basic protective supplies.
