The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced it 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.
CDC Ebola Response Incident Manager Joel Montgomery, PhD, CAPT USPHS said, “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.