The two major Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Guinea require swift action “to avoid catastrophic consequences,” White House Secretary of State Jen Psaki said Tuesday.
It is the White House’s first official statement on the recurrence of Ebola in the two African countries. Psaki said President Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation in Central and West Africa.
“As the world moves away from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Ebola has re-emerged simultaneously in both Central and West Africa. The world cannot afford to turn backwards.” said Psaki. “We must do everything we can to respond quickly, efficiently and with proportionate resources to stop these outbreaks before they become widespread epidemics.”
The World Health Organization announced last week that it has confirmed new cases of Ebola in Butembo, a city in the DRC province of North Kivu. The city was the epicenter of the second largest outbreak of Ebola in the world, which was declared in June. WHO officials said on Friday that they were transporting the vaccine to the hard-to-reach city and were struggling to contain the extremely deadly disease before it spread.
Separately, Guinean officials confirmed over the weekend the Ebola outbreak in N’Zerekore, southern Guinea. On Sunday, after at least three people died and four others were infected with the disease, the West African nation declared an Ebola epidemic. Neighboring countries Sierra Leone and Liberia have put their citizens on high alert.
Unlike the highly infectious coronavirus, which can be spread by asymptomatic people, it is believed that Ebola is spread mainly through people who are already visibly ill. The virus is spread through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of people who are sick or have died from the disease, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ebola has an average case mortality rate of 50%, although it can vary by focus, according to the WHO.
Psaki said Tuesday that US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan spoke with the ambassadors of Guinea, the DRC, Sierra Leone and Liberia “to convey the United States’ desire to work closely” with those countries.
“Mr. Sullivan underlined President Biden’s commitment to providing US leadership to strengthen health security and create better systems for preventing, detecting and responding to health emergencies,” Psaki said. “Outbreaks require a quick and overwhelming response to avoid catastrophic consequences.”
The re-emergence of Ebola in Guinea and the DRC has global health professionals particularly concerned, as those countries are home to the two worst outbreaks of Ebola in history. The fire in the DRC, which was declared in June, lasted almost two years. It was the second largest in the world and, by the end of the year, there were a total of 3,481 cases and 2,299 deaths, according to the WHO.
The infamous outbreak of Ebola in West Africa began in Guinea in 2014 before spreading across land borders in Sierra Leone and Liberia, according to the WHO. At the end of 2016, there were over 28,000 cases, including over 11,000 deaths, says the WHO.
“Since the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, the United States has struggled to raise and prioritize health care assistance with partners through the Global Health Security Agenda and with strong support from Congress,” Psaki added. Tuesday. “We cannot afford to get our foot in the door – even if we are fighting COVID, we need to provide capacity and funding for global health security.”
During the West African Ebola outbreak, the US Centers for Disease Control confirmed 11 cases of Ebola in the United States, mostly among health workers who had traveled to Africa to help respond. Dr. Syra Madad, senior director of the special system-wide pathogen program at New York City Health + Hospitals, told CNBC on Tuesday that the city is working to ensure its outbreak response protocols are up to date.
“Every time we see a declared epidemic, at least in New York, we know we are a travel hub, we need to make sure our staff is up to date with their PPE skills and identifying these patients,” she said. . he said in a telephone interview. “There’s a big struggle just to make sure the concept of the operations plan is eliminated.”