By James Amoh Junior
Accra, Aug. 6, GNA – The United States has increased its direct funding for Ebola response and preparedness efforts in Africa to more than US$512 million.
It also announced an additional US$242 million to support the ongoing outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The U.S. says the increased support calls for stronger international cooperation and sustained investment in public health systems to contain the outbreak, strengthen preparedness and prevent future epidemics.
Tommy Pigott, U.S. Department of State Spokesperson, said the latest commitment of an additional US$242 million would finance six months of critical response activities.
It will reinforce efforts to strengthen health systems, improve disease surveillance and prepare affected countries to respond more effectively to future outbreaks.
The funding is in addition to US$350 million in humanitarian assistance already committed for the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan.
Addressing selected journalists from across Africa during an online media roundtable, Mr Pigott said the United States remained concerned about the outbreak and was committed to working with governments, international organisations and humanitarian partners to bring it under control.
“Our objective has been clear; Protect Americans, contain the outbreak at its source, and support affected countries in bringing this outbreak to an end,” he said.
Mr Pigott explained that the U.S. strategy was built on three priorities: preventing Ebola from spreading beyond affected areas, containing the outbreak at its source through proven public health interventions and mobilising international support to accelerate a science-based global response.
He said the newly announced funding would support border screening, surveillance, contact tracing, diagnostic testing, procurement and delivery of personal protective equipment, treatment services, risk communication and expansion of bed capacity in affected communities.
“Containing the outbreak at its source remains fundamental to our strategy,” he said, adding that lessons from previous Ebola outbreaks were shaping the current response.
The spokesperson said the scale of the U.S.-supported response was already yielding measurable results.
According to him, U.S. assistance had supported 8.6 million health screenings across affected and at-risk countries, delivered nearly 300 metric tonnes of humanitarian supplies and distributed more than 184,000 pieces of critical equipment.
He added that the support had strengthened 184 health facilities, enabled the operation of 12 specialised Ebola treatment centres and reached more than one million people with lifesaving public health messaging aimed at encouraging early reporting of symptoms and reducing misinformation surrounding the disease.
Mr Pigott stressed that while emergency interventions remained essential, building resilient national health systems was equally important to preventing future outbreaks.
He disclosed that the United States had signed Memoranda of Understanding with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo before the current outbreak to strengthen disease surveillance, outbreak detection and emergency preparedness.
According to him, those long-term partnerships were designed to improve countries’ ability to identify outbreaks earlier, respond rapidly and maintain stronger public health systems beyond the current emergency.
He noted that Uganda’s response to the present outbreak reflected years of sustained investment in its health sector, describing it as robust and effective.
The spokesperson also highlighted ongoing efforts to develop medical countermeasures against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no licensed vaccine or specific treatment.
He said the United States had provided US$50 million through the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) to support research and development, with clinical trials commencing just eight weeks after the outbreak began.
He said investing in scientific research alongside emergency response would improve preparedness for future outbreaks and strengthen global health security.
Mr Pigott rejected suggestions that reforms to the U.S. foreign assistance architecture had weakened the country’s Ebola response, arguing instead that integrating global health functions within the State Department had enabled a faster and more coordinated response.
He said the response plan was activated within 24 hours of the first reports of the outbreak, while foreign assistance was mobilised within 48 hours in coordination with the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, partner governments and international organisations.
According to him, that unprecedented speed demonstrated the effectiveness of a coordinated approach that brought together public health, diplomacy and humanitarian expertise under one framework.
Mr Pigott called on governments and international donors to increase their support, saying no country could tackle an outbreak with regional implications alone.
“We need more countries to donate. We need more donors to address the urgency of this threat,” he said.
He added that expanding contact tracing, improving access to treatment and strengthening community engagement would help increase survival rates, stressing that people could recover from Ebola when the disease was detected early and appropriate treatment was provided.
The current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, one of the less common species of the disease.
Unlike the Zaire strain, for which licensed vaccines are available, no approved vaccine currently exists for the Bundibugyo strain, making rapid case detection, laboratory testing, supportive treatment and public health interventions particularly important.
Ebola Virus Disease is a severe viral illness transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected persons or contaminated materials.
GNA
Reporter: James Amoh Junior
Email: [email protected]
Edited by: George-Ramsey Benamba