- 676 confirmed cases of Ebola have been detected in DR Congo
- The outbreak likely began three months ago and went undetected for most of that time
- US cuts to global health funding hindered the global response
The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo isn't showing any signs of cooling off, and the Donald Trump-led US administration's reticence in spending dollars for global health programs has contributed to the spread of the disease, said American health expert Dr Ashish Jha.
Since the outbreak was declared on May 15, there have been 676 confirmed Ebola cases, including 136 deaths in the DRC, according to the latest figures from the WHO. There are a further 119 suspected cases, while 32 patients have recovered. However, the authorities were too late in detecting that the deadly virus was on the move in the impoverished country, said the doctor, one of the leading officers who coordinated America's COVID-19 response.
He told NDTV in an interview that the outbreak is expanding.
"This outbreak is still, I think, growing, and it will continue to grow for many more weeks. The outbreak probably began three months ago. It went undetected for most of that time for a variety of reasons," he said.
The public health expert predicted an ominous future for the African nation, saying the number of cases and deaths is expected to climb in the next few days.
"Unfortunately, I don't think this outbreak is going to get under control anytime soon. So I expect that the number of cases and deaths will continue to climb in the weeks ahead. But if we do a good job, we can get our arms around this. But it will take some time," he said.
How Is Trump Administration Responsible For Ebola Spread
He blamed the Donald Trump administration's funding cuts for a muted global response to the outbreak in DR Congo.
"In the past, America has always had a leading role. There are two or three things America does very well in these cases. One is that we have a lot of people from USAID who are usually on the ground. They're not there anymore because of those cuts," he said.
"The second is CDC (The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) in the United States coordinates very closely with WHO. That's not happening because America has now pulled out of the World Health Organisation," he added.
He pointed out another weakness in the American response to the Ebola outbreak.
Also read: US Adds $38 Million For Ebola As Health Body Warns Outbreak Could Match 2014
"Usually, when the outbreak becomes big enough, you get a senior coordinator inside the White House, who works across the entire government to make sure the American response is effective. We don't have that. So America's leadership role here is really lacking. I would like to see other countries step up. But of course, I also want to see America play its leadership role," he added.
Since Donald Trump became the President of the United States for the second time, his administration has massively curtailed health spending. It withdrew from the WHO, dissolved the US Agency for International Development (USAID), and cut CDS' funding. It is also planning to reduce health aid to many African nations.
He said that developing an effective vaccine isn't a viable strategy.
"We have a vaccine against some of the other strains only recently. There are ways of ending this outbreak without a vaccine. Of course, a vaccine is very helpful. There are now some new vaccine candidates going into testing, but that will take many months. And whether that will help in this outbreak or not, we don't know. There's also a little bit of evidence that one of the other vaccines for one of the other strains may help a little. But I don't think the vaccine will come in time to help control the outbreak," he said.
He called for developing a global approach to such outbreaks.
"We live in a very interconnected world where people are one flight away from any disease spreading anywhere. And so we have to take a global approach to these kinds of things. We need a better global detection system. So we catch viruses early," he said.
The World Health Organisation warned on Friday that the Ebola outbreak is spreading into new areas of the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo and is bigger in scale than hitherto detected.
"The outbreak continues to expand both in terms of case numbers but also in terms of geographic spread," said Olivier le Polain, the WHO's head of epidemiology and analytics for response.
Much more needs to be done to contain the virus, the WHO said.
