DRC Ebola Outbreak Highlights Advances & Continued Need
News of the Ebola outbreak this month in the Democratic Republic of Congo has highlighted meaningful advances as well as critical needs that continue in the wake of the epidemic across Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia that ended two years ago. Thanks to a swift response by the World Health Organization, mobile laboratories are in operation and those who have been potentially exposed to the virus have begun receiving a promising investigational vaccine.
Thanks to investments in science, in practice and a recognition that a coordinated response is essential to effective infectious diseases interventions, WHO officials have announced that the outbreak does not currently meet their criteria for declaring a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
On the same day the Ebola outbreak in the DRC was announced, the administration announced a proposal to rescind $252 million in funding support of USAID’s global health security efforts. IDSA, HIVMA, SHEA and PIDS have released a joint statement, “DRC Ebola Outbreak Demonstrates Need for Continued Investments” urging Congress to reject the proposal and to continue robust funding for global health security and biomedical research.
Facebook Live!
Daniel Lucey, MD, MPH, Adjunct Professor of Medicine-Infectious Diseases at Georgetown University Medical Center and Senior Scholar with the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law School, joined IDSA for a Facebook Live event to discuss the implications of the Ebola outbreak in the DRC.