Governments, international agencies and health funders have committed nearly $500 million to tackle the ongoing outbreak of Ebola raging across the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the African Union’s health agency said.
Following an online ministerial briefing, the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said leaders backed an Ebola response plan requiring at least $319 million until November this year.
The plan will strengthen Ebola monitoring and treatment in 11 high-risk countries in the region, Africa CDC said in a statement following the ministerial meeting.
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As part of this, African countries have already committed around a tenth of the funding needed, according to South African president Cyril Ramaphosa, who acts as the African Union’s lead for pandemic preparedness.
“African countries themselves have already committed initial domestic contributions representing approximately 10% of the required financing,” he said in the statement. “Africa is no longer waiting passively for others to act.”
Ramaphosa said South Africa has already pledged $5 million to help contain the outbreak, while the Gates Foundation had committed $5 million to Africa CDC and $10 million to the World Health Organization.
It comes as African countries warned the outbreak could be the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever recorded, following the 2014 West African outbreak when over 11,000 people died.
As of May 26, the WHO had reported 18 confirmed deaths and 238 suspected deaths.
Sania Nishtar, chief executive of the vaccine group Gavi, said efforts were underway to accelerate development of a vaccine for the disease, caused by the rare Bundibugyo strain for which there is currently no approved treatment.
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