Today during a press conference, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya, MD, MPH, said the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) would require $1.4 billion in funding to contain, almost triple the $518 million Africa CDC estimated it needed at the beginning of the month.
"If we don't have this $1.4 billion and if we don't resolve the humanitarian issue, we will not stop this outbreak,” Kaseya said. So far, about $910 million has been pledged for the outbreak, but only 13% of that had been released.
Kaseya said conditions in Ituri province in the DRC were worsening, and healthcare workers were having difficulty gaining entrance into displacement camps where the virus may be spreading unchecked.
At this point, six weeks into the official outbreak, the virus is still outpacing response efforts, Kaseya said.
According to a new dashboard created by an international group of researchers, the current Ebola outbreak stands at 1,118 cases and 291 deaths.
Trump ups funding request
The White House is asking Congress for more funding for Ebola response efforts, also naming $1.4 billion as necessary to end the outbreak. In the Office of Management and Budget’s supplemental spending request, the Trump administration asked $550 million to prevent and detect the Ebola virus in the DRC, with another $800 million providing humanitarian assistance to the region.
Included in the $800 million is funding for the construction of an Ebola facility in Kenya, despite Kenyan officials halting the project earlier this week.
“These funds would be used to limit the spread of Ebola beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda to other vulnerable nations and ensure the virus does not reach U.S. shores,” OMB Director Russell Vought wrote in a letter to Congress.
UNICEF, Gavi issue pleas for vaccines
Yesterday UNICEF and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced the launch of a Request for Expression of Interest (EOI) to gather information from vaccine manufacturers on their plans to develop a vaccine against Bundibugyo Ebolavirus disease.
There is no vaccine available against the Bundibugyo species, and the move builds on Gavi’s recent commitment of $40 million to support accelerated vaccine access.
“This EOI will help inform how that financing can best support manufacturing scale-up and rapid access to doses if and when they become available,” UNICEF said in a press release.
