US pledges $267m as DRC outbreak dominates UNGA health talks

The United States has pledged an additional $267 million to support the response to the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, as health leaders meeting in New York during the 81st United Nations General Assembly discuss gaps in pandemic preparedness.

The US State Department announced the funding as the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to record new Bundibugyo virus infections.

The latest WHO figures show 7,733 confirmed cases and 3,732 confirmed deaths across 63 health zones. Dungu Health Zone in Haut-Uélé, which borders South Sudan, is the latest affected area.

The outbreak has also featured prominently in discussions on laboratory capacity, frontline readiness and emergency financing at UNGA.

Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya, speaking to Semafor during the General Assembly, called for faster release of emergency funds.

“When an outbreak begins, financing must move as fast as the emergency,” Kaseya said.

He called for stronger domestic financing, faster movement of resources to frontline teams and increased African production of vaccines, diagnostics and other essential health products.

“Africa has the market, institutions and expertise to build stronger health security with greater African ownership,” he said.

The call comes as WHO reports that a majority of recent Ebola deaths are occurring outside treatment centres.

Between September 14 and 20, 222 confirmed deaths were recorded, including 136 in communities — 61.3 per cent of the total.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has previously warned that “the majority of deaths are still happening in communities rather than in treatment centres.”

He also said many people who died had not been identified as contacts.

“And many deaths are among people who were not on a list of known contacts,” Tedros said. “That means there are chains of transmission we don’t know about.”

WHO has linked community deaths to several factors, including missed diagnoses at peripheral health facilities, self-medication, seeking care from traditional healers or religious institutions, refusal of referral and people having no previous contact with the formal health system.

Laboratory capacity was among the issues discussed at a September 21 UNGA event bringing together health leaders, funders and technical partners to examine frontline readiness during the Ebola outbreak.

Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization, said: “Preparedness is built between emergencies.”

He also highlighted the need for countries to have diagnostic and laboratory systems ready before an outbreak crosses borders.

“When a public health event crosses borders, there is no time to begin identifying experts, reference laboratories, diagnostic protocols, specimen-referral pathways or channels for communicating results,” Barbosa said.

The latest DRC figures show different trends across the affected provinces.

In Ituri, confirmed cases declined by 25.8 per cent during the latest 21-day period, from 1,255 to 931. Nord-Kivu recorded a 72.7 per cent increase, from 341 to 589.

The addition of Dungu brings another health zone near an international border into the outbreak picture.

The response is also dealing with limited options against the virus. There is currently no licensed vaccine specifically for Bundibugyo virus and no approved specific treatment. WHO says vaccine and treatment candidates are being evaluated.

The US funding comes as WHO seeks resources for a six-month, government-led response plan estimated at $1.3 billion.

The UN General Assembly is scheduled to hold a high-level meeting on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response on September 25.

The meeting will consider measures on surveillance, laboratory systems, health-system capacity, financing and access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.

The DRC outbreak remains active, with WHO continuing to report new cases and deaths across affected health zones.