The Ebola situation in East Africa is worsening, with confirmed cases in key cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. Health specialists and local workers report that efforts to control the outbreak have suffered due to limited involvement from the United States, which has traditionally led such initiatives.
The U.S. previously supported substantial disease monitoring systems in the area and had rapid response teams for health emergencies. This support ceased as the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was dismantled last year. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has lost numerous experts, including several stationed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who might have aided in controlling the outbreak.
Professionals familiar with past Ebola emergencies indicate that the current outbreak went unnoticed on the international stage for weeks, or potentially months, allowing it to cross borders due to weakened surveillance systems.
U.S. authorities only learned about the outbreak last Thursday, nine days following the World Health Organization’s awareness, and nearly a month after the first reported death. The late confirmation partly resulted from handling the virus samples incorrectly en route to the national lab in Kinshasa, a task once managed by USAID.
As of last Wednesday, WHO reported approximately 600 infections and 139 deaths from the virus, with the numbers expected to rise as contact tracing and testing efforts intensify to assess the virus’s spread.
Confirmed infections are present in Goma, a Congolese city near Rwanda with a population over one million, Bunia, home to about 800,000 people, and Kampala, the capital of Uganda, hosting 1.9 million residents. This suggests a broad reach of the virus, with Goma located around 350 miles from the initial outbreak.
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