The response of the International community to the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has been rapid as compared to the previous outbreak in 2014 in six West African Countries with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea which was the worst hit.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided US$ 2.6 million from its contingency fund for emergencies to further quicken the response.
The budget for the international response has been estimated at about US$ 18 million for a 90-day operation. The Wellcome Trust and UK Department for International Development (DFID) has promised to contribute up to £3 million to support a rapid response to the outbreak.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization(WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has personally gone to Bikoro in the north-west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to see firsthand the extent of the outbreak in the affected areas. He is also mobilising the United Nations (UN) systems to respond to the outbreak.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has given full backing to WHO with airlift services between the affected areas, Kinshasa, Mbandaka by providing flights six days a week for supplies and personnel. This has gone a long way in tackling the logistics challenge.
Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF, an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organization, the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF, UNOCHA, MONUSCO, IOM, Africa CDC and US-CDC are on ground providing assistance and strengthening the response to the outbreak at the National level.
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