Africa’s disease control chief seeks over $2bn in unpaid Ebola pledges
Jean Kaseya says insecurity also blocks response teams in DR Congo, and plans to ask African leaders for an agreement allowing safe access.
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Jean Kaseya says insecurity also blocks response teams in DR Congo, and plans to ask African leaders for an agreement allowing safe access.
More than $2 billion pledged for the Ebola response remains outstanding, said Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), urging immediate payment in comments to the Guardian. Africa CDC also says about 80% of recorded cases in DR Congo are arising outside the contacts health teams are monitoring, indicating that transmission chains remain undetected.
DR Congo’s health ministry declared the outbreak in Ituri province on 15 May, although analysis of the virus’s genetic material indicates it began in February. Caused by Bundibugyo virus, the outbreak has spread to Kenya and Uganda.
Monitored contacts are people health teams are following after possible exposure to Ebola. Africa CDC says about 80% of recorded cases are occurring outside that group. Its benchmark for saying the outbreak has largely been brought under control is for at least 95% of recorded cases to come from known contacts, in an Associated Press report published by Fortune. The gap means health authorities are still discovering infections from chains of transmission they had not identified.
The disease has reached 66 health zones across eight provinces, compared with three zones when the outbreak was declared in May. Responders told the Associated Press that some treatment centres were becoming overwhelmed. At least half of recorded deaths were among people who had not been admitted to treatment centres.
At least 2,600 patients have recovered in Congo. Those recoveries are individual treatment outcomes; Africa CDC’s control benchmark concerns whether health teams can trace where new infections are coming from.
WHO says vaccinations have begun in Bunia to test whether Ervebo can protect high-risk contacts against the Ebola species driving the outbreak.
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The Associated Press also described disruption to maternal care and routine childhood vaccinations. Pregnant women were avoiding hospitals for fear of infection and isolation, and maternal mortality doubled in some provinces soon after the outbreak was declared. The Ebola response has also diverted attention from other outbreaks, including cholera, in an already underfunded and overstretched health system.
| Funding | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Total government pledges | $3 billion | Pledged, not a total of money delivered |
| Outstanding portion of those pledges | More than $2 billion | Still unpaid |
| African countries’ commitments | $120 million | Committed, not described as received |
Kaseya said the rest of the pledged funding was meant to come from international donors, including the US, UK and European Union. He warned that delays would allow further spread and raise response costs, potentially to trillions of dollars if more countries were affected.
Inadequate protective equipment and unpaid health-worker wages, leading to strikes, have hampered the response. Conflict, mistrust of officials, misinformation and global aid cuts have added to those difficulties. Kaseya said insecurity was preventing colleagues in Ituri from reaching people they wanted to support.
France confirmed a case in June in a doctor returning from DR Congo and remained the only non-African country with a confirmed case as of 28 October. By that date, Nigeria had confirmed a case in Abuja in a traveller arriving from Uganda. France and Uganda had no active cases at the time of the 28 October Associated Press report.
Kaseya warned that the UK and other countries could be affected unless they increased preparedness and readiness to treat patients. He scheduled a meeting of African health ministers for 28 October to seek stronger cross-border cooperation, including screening and testing people from affected regions at entry and exit points.
Bundibugyo virus has no approved vaccine or treatment. Vaccine trials are under way, and Kaseya said that results should be available in three to six months.
At a meeting with African heads of state in November, Kaseya plans to seek a “corridor of peace” in conflict areas: an agreement to protect people and allow response teams to reach communities. He urged leaders to recognise that Ebola can affect everyone, including rebels and the official army.
During a multicountry Ebola emergency, the agencies outline when existing safety data could justify postponing some animal tests to help human trials begin sooner.
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The team will advise the EU Delegation in Abuja, while ECDC has offered Nigerian authorities help to track infections and prevent their spread.
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