Trump Gutted USAID. Congo Pays the Price in an Ebola Epidemic

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"The lack of an effective vaccine, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, conflict and cuts to international assistance are hobbling efforts to contain Ebola in Congo," write Anthony W. Gambino and Proscovia Nabunya.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is reeling from an outbreak of Ebola that is estimated to have killed nearly 5,400 people. The World Health Organization (WHO) has described it as “the largest Ebola outbreak ever reported” in the country.

The outbreak was first detected in Mongbwalu, a gold-mining town of around 130,000 people in Ituri province in northeastern Congo, after the WHO was alerted on May 5 about an unusual cluster of illness and deaths. The earliest known suspected case was a healthcare worker who developed symptoms on Apr. 24 and later died at a medical facility in Bunia, the provincial capital.

On May 15, laboratory tests confirmed that the outbreak was caused by the Bundibugyo virus. Since then, the epidemic has spread to the eight provinces, with about 65% of new cases occurring in the community, suggesting widespread undetected transmission. The virus spreads primarily through direct contact with an infected person’s blood or other bodily fluids, or through contact with contaminated materials and surfaces. As a zoonotic disease, Ebola can also pass from infected wildlife to humans.

The epidemic is now spreading fast and far beyond the borders of Congo, reaching Uganda, Kenya, and Nigeria. The WHO, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and other public health experts have identified several obstacles to containing the outbreak: the lack of an effective vaccine against the Bundibugyo virus, armed conflict in eastern Congo, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and cuts to international health assistance.

What this list leaves out is a deeper problem: a decades-long crisis of governance. Ebola is particularly difficult to control in Congo because its ruling class has done little to care for the health and well-being of most Congolese.

The Trump Administration has compounded the problem by weakening the American and international institutions.

Funding cuts have also weakened support for disease detection, community…

The…

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