The Director General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Dr Jean Kaseya, has disclosed that $1.4 billion is needed to bring the Ebola outbreak under control, warning that funding gaps, insecurity and weak contact tracing systems are undermining response efforts.
Speaking at the African Union (AU) Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government in Accra on Tuesday, July 21, Dr Kaseya said the scale of the outbreak requires urgent financial support and stronger collaboration among African countries and international partners.
The summit, held under the theme “Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS, TB, Improving Maternal Health, Addressing Endemic Non-Communicable and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions in Africa,” is focusing on strategies to strengthen health security and improve disease response across the continent.
Dr Kaseya identified insecurity in affected areas, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), as one of the major challenges affecting efforts to contain the outbreak.
He explained that health workers responding to the crisis have faced attacks, making it increasingly difficult to deliver critical interventions in communities affected by the virus.
According to him, the humanitarian situation in the DRC, including more than 1.15 million internally displaced persons, has further complicated the Ebola response and increased the risk of transmission.
Dr Kaseya also expressed concern over significant gaps in contact tracing, which he described as a key indicator in determining whether an outbreak is under control.
He said with 2,443 confirmed cases, health authorities require more than 97,000 people to be listed as contacts for effective monitoring. However, only about 10,000 contacts have been identified, with 8,500 currently being followed.
The Africa CDC Director General said the limited tracking capacity has contributed to high community transmission, with more than 70% of new cases emerging from communities and over 60% of deaths occurring within communities.
Dr Kaseya noted that the funding requirement for the Ebola response has increased significantly, rising from an earlier estimate of $518 million discussed during a meeting of African leaders and partners on June 16 to the current $1.4 billion needed to stop the outbreak.
“If we don’t have this money, we will not stop this outbreak,” he said, while commending African countries for their support towards the response.
His comments come as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continues to intensify, with the Health Ministry reporting at least 2,344 confirmed cases and 930 deaths.
The Ministry also recorded 37 deaths within a 24-hour period between Friday and Saturday, one of the highest daily increases since the outbreak was declared on May 15.
