Africa secures $498.8m pledges for Ebola response efforts

Africa has secured approximately $498.8 million in pledges and commitments to strengthen response efforts against the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola Virus outbreak across affected and high-risk countries.

 

Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, disclosed this on Monday in a post on X.

 

Kaseya said African governments and development partners were coordinating efforts to mobilise resources needed to contain the outbreak.

 

“Today, during the High-Level Ministerial Meeting, governments and partners announced approximately US$498.8 million in pledges and commitments to strengthen response efforts across affected and high-risk countries,” he said.

 

He described the funding commitments as a demonstration of African solidarity and collective responsibility toward protecting public health across the continent.

 

“As the outbreak continues to evolve in a complex environment, trust, coordination and rapid response efforts remain critical to stopping transmission and saving lives,” Kaseya added.

 

World Health Organisation Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said deaths linked to the Bundibugyo Ebola Virus outbreak had risen to 220.

 

“At the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us,” Tedros said.

 

The Bundibugyo strain currently driving the outbreak has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment.

 

Bundibugyo ebolavirus remains one of the rarest Ebola strains known to infect humans and has previously been linked to only two outbreaks — in Uganda in 2007 and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012.

 

Most available Ebola vaccines and antibody treatments were developed for the Zaire Ebola strain, which caused the 2014 to 2016 West African Ebola outbreak that claimed more than 11,000 lives.

 

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs had earlier announced an emergency allocation of up to $60 million to support containment efforts.

 

The intervention came days after the World Health Organisation declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

 

Major commitments announced at the ministerial meeting include $160 million from the World Bank for Congo, $82 million from the United States and approximately $57 million from European partners.

 

The outbreak has continued spreading across parts of Central Africa, particularly the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

 

Authorities in the DRC have recorded 906 suspected cases, 105 confirmed infections, 223 suspected deaths and 10 confirmed fatalities.

 

Uganda has reported seven confirmed cases and one confirmed death, with health officials saying five infections have direct links to the first two confirmed cases.