US Pledges $242m More for Congo Ebola Response

The US Department of State has announced an additional $242m in funding to combat the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, bringing total direct US assistance to $512m. The funding is expected to cover approximately six months of operations.

This is the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, and aid officials warn that the disease is spreading at a record pace.

Contributing factors include the late detection of the initial cases, gaps in epidemiological surveillance, armed conflict in the eastern part of the country and the absence of vaccines and treatments for the current strain of the virus.

Doctors Without Borders said the situation was more critical than ever, noting that more than five times as many deaths have been recorded in the first 11 weeks of the outbreak than during the same period of the 2014–2016 West African epidemic.

At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the actual number of cases may be two to four times higher than the official figures. The US administration has rejected criticism that previous cuts to foreign aid weakened preparedness for the crisis.

(Reuters, mja)