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  5. International Aid Cuts Complicate Ebola Response in DRC

International Aid Cuts Complicate Ebola Response in DRC

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Ebola has claimed 240 deaths in Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and has already spread to Uganda, prompting WHO to warn of continued spread. Health officials suspect the true case count may be far higher than the 1,000 reported, as Uganda shut its borders with Congo on May 27. German organizations are urging increased spending to stem the epidemic amid rising concern over its reach across eastern DRC.

  1. DE
    Benedikt Schöneck
    Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
    1. Looking to the future, it is clear that cuts in prevention support will of course have a corresponding impact.
  2. DE
    Karl Lauterbach
    Christian Democratic Union
    1. Eroding health care systems could cause a major influx of refugees from African countries in Europe.
  3. GB
    Selena Victor
    Mercy Corps
    1. I'm blown away by people's willingness and commitment to help in these situations. Please, let's not have a situation where they don't have gloves, masks and gowns. The very least we can do is make sure that they have everything they need to stay safe.
    2. Ebola is one of those truly terrifying, upsetting, horrific things that does happen intermittently. Since the 2014 outbreak, we had gotten much better at identifying it and responding to the virus. There was a major effort to train local epidemiologists and health workers. The USAID cuts were obviously devastating. The system took a long time to build but didn't take very long to dismantle.
  4. DE
    Julia Stoffner
    Brot für die Welt
    1. Civil society organizations on the ground must be strengthened, as these are the people who know the needs and the regions best. They have access to the communities and have their trust. The local population is crucial to containing this outbreak, especially as there are no vaccines.
    2. Funding for global health efforts as a whole must be increased.
    3. When health systems in the global south become weaker and weaker or are no longer supported, this contributes to outbreaks like the one in the DRC going unnoticed for a very long time before becoming apparent.
    4. The 2026 budget shows that all funds allocated to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) have been scaled back.
  5. CD
    Josue Ibulungu
    Diakonie
    1. This makes it very hard for doctors and nurses to help Ebola patients because they lack the necessary equipment.
    2. Many hospitals have been destroyed by the war.
    3. The situation is very difficult for all humanitarian aid workers, funding cuts from many donors make the situation very difficult. Organizations are even struggling to find funds to make Ebola vaccinations possible.
  6. SN
    Papys Lame
    1. The community response against Ebola is critical, and we need many resources for this. International staff who can come and help with community engagement, human resources, logistics, water sanitation. Hopefully we will have enough to do our work.
    2. For us, this is not an attack against the organisation. It is anger and frustration against the loss of an important person in the community.
    3. The death of a young footballer from suspected Ebola shocked the community and his family. Young people came to ask for his body without treatment. Because it was a suspected Ebola death, we had to organise a safe burial so people got angry.
    4. We have preventive measures that we are putting into place to protect our colleagues. They are working with some confidence because some have experienced previous Ebola outbreaks. You must be brave if you work in this environment.
    5. Patients are afraid because they know that Ebola does not have a cure. Many have lost a member of their family or a colleague. And it also impacts frontline workers, too, who have lost colleagues.
    6. We don't have a specific treatment for Ebola right now but we can save people if they come very early. Then, their chance of being cured is higher. But if people come late, the case fatality rate is high.

sources

  1. 1.DW News
  2. 2.NPR
  3. 3.The Guardian
  4. 4.National Public Radio

perspectives

  1. 1.Pandemic
  2. 2.Vaccination

countries

  1. 1.GermanyDE
  2. 2.UgandaUG
  3. 3.Congo, The Democratic Republic of theCD
  4. 4.United StatesUS
  5. 5.IsraelIL
  6. 6.Iran, Islamic Republic ofIR
  7. 7.UkraineUA
  8. 8.CongoCG
  9. 9.United KingdomGB
  10. 10.GuineaGN
  11. 11.LiberiaLR
  12. 12.RomaniaRO

organizations

  1. 1.Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
  2. 2.World Health Organization
  3. 3.Brot für die Welt
  4. 4.US Agency for International Development
  5. 5.CARE International
  6. 6.Caritas
  7. 7.Catholic Church
  8. 8.Diakonie
  9. 9.First Edition
  10. 10.German Institute for Medical Mission
  11. 11.International Rescue Committee
  12. 12.Mercy Corps

persons

  1. 1.Adrian Florido
  2. 2.Donald TrumpUS
  3. 3.Leonard Musinguzi
  4. 4.Andy BurnhamGB
  5. 5.Benedikt SchöneckDE
  6. 6.Elon MuskUS
  7. 7.Gisela Schneider
  8. 8.Henry Larson
  9. 9.Josue IbulunguCD
  10. 10.Julia StoffnerDE
  11. 11.Karl LauterbachDE
  12. 12.Papys LameSN

technicals

  1. 1.Christianity
  2. 2.Protestantism