US CDC activates $107 million in emergency funding for Ebola response

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday it would make available $107 million in emergency funding to strengthen its domestic and international response to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.



The agency currently has 23 field staff supporting epidemiological investigations and the DRC health ministry, Dr. Satish Pillai, the incident manager for the CDC's Ebola response, said in a briefing. There are over 125 CDC staff across the DRC and Uganda working on the response, he said.



A month after the World Health Organization declared an international emergency, the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain has grown to 875 confirmed cases, including 202 deaths, with warnings mounting that it could become the worst Ebola outbreak on record — surpassing the 2014 to 2016 West Africa

epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people.



Less than 10% of pledges made to support the response in Congo and Uganda have been received from donors, Africa's top health body said earlier on Thursday.