Ebola

Ebola

Équateur, Democratic Republic of the Congo, May-July 2018

Overview

Within hours of the outbreak being declared on 8 May 2018, WHO released US$2 million from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies, deployed a team to augment capacity in the field, and activated an emergency incident management system.

Unlike previous Ebola outbreaks in the country, this one involved four separate locations, including an urban centre with river connections to the capital and to neighbouring countries, as well as remote rainforest villages. There were initial concerns that the disease could spread to other parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and to neighbouring countries.

24 July 2018 marked the end of this, the ninth outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Health Organization congratulated the country and all those involved in ending the outbreak, while urging them to extend this success to combatting other diseases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Disease outbreak news - start of the outbreak - end of the outbreak

 

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Key documents

Funding

  • WHO’s rapid response and scale up of operations in the DRC was funded by a total of US$4 million disbursement from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (CFE).
  • WHO and partners appealed for US$57 million to stop the spread of Ebola. The total funds received by all partners, as tracked by OCHA, amount to US$63 million.
  • Funding towards WHO’s contribution to the Ebola response was provided from: Italy (€ 300 000), UN CERF (US$ 800 000), Gavi (US$ 1 million), USAID (US$ 5.3 million), Wellcome Trust and UK-DFID (US$ 4.1 million), UK-DFID (£5 million), Germany (€5 million), Norway (NOK 8 million), Canada (CAD$1 million), World Bank PEF (US$ 6.8 million), Japan (US$1.3 million), EU ECHO (€ 1.5 million) and from the Ebola MPTF (US$ 428,000) bringing the total to approximately US$ 36 million.
  • Germany’s contribution is in recognition of the critical role the WHO CFE has played in responding to the Ebola virus disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and will go to replenish the CFE, which provided initial funds for the response efforts.
  • In-kind contributions for medical evacuation were received from Norway. EU ECHO support was provided for flights between Kinshasa and Mbandaka. Technical expertise was provided by Guinea, the UK, USA and Germany through the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). Merck provided the vaccines that were used to protect over 3300 people.

WHO partners

  • The Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA)
  • International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
  • The Red Cross of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo Red Cross)
  • Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
  • Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)
  • Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa-CDC)
  • US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC)
  • ECHO
  • Department for International Development (DFID)
  • Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
  • World Food Programme (WFP)
  • UNICEF
  • UNCERF
  • UNOCHA
  • MONUSCO
  • UNFPA
  • International Organization for Migration (IOM)
  • FAO Emergency Management Centre – Animal Health (EMC-AH)
  • International Humanitarian Partnership (IHP)
  • Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
  • African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET)
  • UK Public Health Rapid Support team
  • EPIET Alumni Network (EAN)
  • International Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
  • Emerging Diseases Clinical Assessment and Response Network (EDCARN)
  • World Bank
  • PATH
  • The Government of Guinea deployed more than 30 Ministry of Health staff to assist with the ring vaccination campaign, and Merck provided the Ebola vaccine.
  • Additional coordination and technical support through the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN)
  • Association pour le développement de l’épidémiologie de terrain (EPITER)
  • European Mobile Laboratory (EMLab)
  • Infection Control Africa Network (ICAN), Institut Pasteur (IP)
  • National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)
  • South Africa
  • Robert Koch Institut (RKI)
  • Emergency Medical Teams (EMT).