The United Kingdom is providing fresh support to help tackle the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The new UK aid package provides funding of £5 million to support the WHO response plan. The funding will also be used to strengthen the DRC’s own health systems to treat and appropriately manage the growing number of affected cases. This latest contribution makes the United Kingdom one of the largest country donors to the response.
Announcing the aid package last Wednesday (23 May), International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said: “The UK has acted swiftly to scale up the response to this outbreak of Ebola, a horrific disease which we know has the potential to cause devastating loss of life."
“Our support is vital in helping to contain Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and stop it spreading to other countries - and ultimately the UK,” Secretary Mordaunt said.
This £5 million package has been allocated from Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) Crisis Reserve and is being provided immediately to the WHO for at least the next 3 months. In addition to the new funding, thousands of doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine, developed by UK aid and Wellcome after the 2014 outbreak, are currently being targeted at those most at risk in the DRC. A 3-person UK Public Health Rapid Support Team has also been deployed to the region.
The DFID has previously provided funding for the rapid response efforts through contributions to the UN’s Central Fund for Emergencies, and the WHO’s Contingency Fund for Emergencies, both of which have released $2 million to fund surveillance, diagnosis and treatment operations. The UK is the largest donor to the UN Fund and the second largest donor to the WHO Fund.
