WHO, Africa CDC Launch $518m Plan to Contain Ebola Outbreak

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization have launched a joint continental preparedness and response plan to address the ongoing Ebola outbreak.

The six-month plan, running until November, aims to raise US$518 million to support countries in strengthening preparedness, detection and response measures.

It brings together governments, partners and communities under a unified “One Response” approach, focusing on emergency coordination, disease surveillance, laboratory testing and infection prevention and control.

World Health Organization official Marie-Roseline Belizaire said the situation in Mongbwalu, located in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, remains challenging, but added that coordinated efforts are helping to contain the outbreak.

The plan complements national response strategies already launched by the governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.