Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA (EI) — The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has expressed concern over growing concern over regional spread of the continued Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with ten African countries, including Ethiopia, currently at high risk.
“This current Ebola outbreak is the second largest outbreak that we are experiencing in the world after the one from West Africa,” Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said during an online press briefing on Saturday evening. “When this outbreak was declared, we already had more than 200 suspected cases. It means the magnitude of this outbreak is huge and if we don’t stop this outbreak, knowing that we don’t have vaccines or medicines, we can see the trend that we have.”
Data from the African Union’s specialized public health agency showed that a total of 745 cases, including both suspected and confirmed infections, and 176 probable deaths have been reported since DRC declared its 17th outbreak on May 15.
The agency also warned that the outbreak is now high-risk to ten African countries are South Sudan, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, the Central African Republic, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Angola, the Republic of the Congo, and Burundi.
Kaseya highlighted lack of available medical countermeasures, high population mobility, weak health infrastructure, insecurity and lack of access, as well as misinformation and mistrust as main operational challenges. He further expressed concerns over the lack of strain-specific vaccine to the Bundibugyo strain.
The Africa CDC Director General said the two affected countries, along with the additional ten high-risk African countries, currently needs close to 319 million USD to respond to the outbreak. Of this, some 265 million USD is to support response efforts in the DRC and Uganda, while 54 million USD is to build preparedness across the 10 high-risk countries.
“This is the budget that countries are requesting to either be prepared or to respond to the outbreak,” he said, emphasizing the urgent need to mobilize the required financing. He further called on multilateral and bilateral partners to support response and preparedness efforts.
The Africa CDC, along with countries and its partners, is considering the activation of a holistic way to respond to the outbreak, by “putting in place one team, one plan, one budget, and one implementation model” under the continental incident management support, according to Kaseya.
Ebola disease, a rare but severe illness in humans and caused by viruses that belong to the Orthoebola-virus genus, is often fatal. The disease is highly contagious and can cause symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain or malaise, and, in severe cases, internal and external bleeding, according to the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
Meanwhile, the Africa CDC chief outlined seven critical calls to action, including urgently mobilizing the required 319 million U.S. dollars to fund the necessary response and preparedness pillars across the DRC, Uganda and the 10 high-risk countries.
He further stressed the vital need to accelerate Bundibugyo-specific vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics through emergency authorization pathways.
“For 19 years, we have known about this outbreak, and we cannot accept not to have vaccines and medicines. If this outbreak was in Europe or in the US, I can assure you that medicines and vaccines would be available. But we are not here to cry, we are here to make things move,” he said.
Kaseya underscored the critical importance of deploying surge teams and pre-position emergency stockpiles in high-risk zones ready before transmission accelerates. He emphasized the need to activate the continental incident management support team, national incident management systems, and cross-border coordination in all category 1 and category 2 countries.
With the African continent recording more than 150 outbreaks each year, with 70 of the outbreaks occurring in humanitarian settings, according to data from the Africa CDC, Kaseya highlighted the critical need to protect essential services. “We need to protect essential services, because an Ebola outbreak will not stop other outbreaks and other diseases.”
The Africa CDC chief also emphasized ensuring a secure passage for response teams and supplies to the affected populations by engaging humanitarian, peacekeeping and security actors. He further stressed the importance of countering misinformation and building trust to ensure care-seeking.
“We need to act with urgency, we need to make sure pledges that we got today can be translated into concrete financing very quickly, and we need also to bridge the gap that we still have,” he said.
[Photo Credit – File photo from the Africa CDC shows health experts responding to an Ebola Virus outbreak in the DRC.]
