USAID will send $38m to combat DRC Ebola outbreak

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) will send $38m to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), several neighbouring countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) to help tackle the Ebola outbreak. It comes after the WHO issued a global health warning on the crisis. USAID confirmed 2,592 cases in the region and around 1,743 related deaths, as of 22 July. USAID has spent $136m since the outbreak began in August 2018, according to its press release. 

Medical staff in protective gear prepare to enter an isolation area at an Ebola treatment centre in Goma. Photo: Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

USAID will send more than $38 million to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, several of its neighboring countries and the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat Congo's ongoing Ebola outbreak, per a Wednesday press release.

The numbers that matter: WHO issued a global health warning earlier this month on the Congo's Ebola outbreak. As of July 22, there were 2,592 confirmed cases of Ebola in the region and at least 1,743 related deaths, per USAID. Last week, there were 2,428 confirmed cases and 1,604 confirmed deaths.

The risk of the deadly virus spreading outside the region remains low, according to WHO's global health warning on July 17.

Details: USAID will send $15 million of its new assistance package to WHO, per Wednesday's press release. The U.S. is also funding "critical preparedness efforts" in Burundi, Rwanda, South Sudan and Uganda.

USAID's $38 million will also fund training for health care workers, enhanced surveillance for the disease, the promotion of safe burials and food, among other efforts.

USAID has spent more than $136 million since the beginning of the outbreak in August 2018, per Wednesday's press release.

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