NAIROBI, June 5 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization chief announced a $518 million six-month joint plan to fight Ebola on Friday, calling for money and political commitment to halt the spread of the outbreak that is already the fourth biggest on record.
“It’s time-bound plan covering June to November this year, and … the cost of the plan is at $518 million,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announcing the strategy with Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The outbreak is moving fast and we are still playing catch-up,” he said. “Containing Ebola requires political commitment, sustained finances and trust in engaging the communities,” he added.
The epidemic persisted for weeks undetected, the Africa CDC said at the same briefing, leaving health authorities now behind the curve and struggling to bring it under control.
So far there have been 381 confirmed cases in Congo and 62 confirmed deaths, according to Africa CDC.
The rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine, is responsible for the current outbreak.
“This outbreak is very serious. If you compare with previous Bundibugyo outbreaks this is the most serious Bundibugyo outbreak we have,” Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya said at the same press conference.
He said that donors have so far pledged $315.8 million towards containing the disease, down from an original $498 million after he said some donors “corrected” their figures. It was not immediately clear if that pledged money would go towards the six-month plan or not and he did not provide further details.
The Africa CDC announced the outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak, on May 15, and the World Health Organization swiftly declared it a public health emergency of international concern.
(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian and Emma Farge; Editing by Ros Russell and Alex Richardson)
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