The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is committed to bringing an end to the Ebola outbreaks that were announced in February 2021 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Republic of Guinea (Guinea).
CDC is working closely with ministries of health and international and local partners in DRC, Guinea, and bordering countries to respond to these outbreaks.
Earlier this month CDC allocated $20 million from the Infectious Disease Rapid Response Reserve Fund for preparedness and response activities in Ebola-affected and border countries to ensure continuation of these efforts.
“Even one case of Ebola is too many,” said CDC Ebola Response Incident Manager Joel Montgomery, PhD, CAPT USPHS. “These funds allow CDC and its partners to quickly put in place response, preparedness, and post-outbreak programs and activities, learn more about the virus, and protect the health of the American people and people around the world.”
CDC has deployed scientific and technical experts to DRC, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia to respond alongside CDC country office staff. CDC teams are providing on-the-ground and/or technical assistance to all parts of the responses, including epidemiology and surveillance, laboratory, infection prevention and control, case management, border health, risk communication and community engagement, vaccine, and survivor programs. In countries bordering affected areas, CDC is also working to strengthen rapid response capacity. These efforts are building upon capacities that CDC helped establish during previous Ebola outbreaks in these countries.
In addition, CDC is financially supporting members of the AFENET external iconCorps of Disease Detectives who are working in the outbreak area in DRC, and also has contract staff in the city of Goma.
CDC will continue to work with the global health community to bring these outbreaks to an end and strengthen countries’ capacity to quickly detect and respond to future cases of Ebola.
