NEW YORK, Sept 23 (Reuters) – The US State Department on Wednesday pledged an additional $267 million toward fighting the Ebola outbreak in central Africa, as health authorities battle to get the deadly virus under control.
Senior State Department officials announced the funding on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, hoping for pledges of new funds from other countries to meet a target of $2 billion to fight the disease, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The outbreak was detected in May and is already the second most lethal on record, behind one in West Africa from 2014 to 2016.
On Wednesday, Congolese Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka described the outbreak as a “major test” for the country.
“For the DRC, fighting this epidemic is an absolute priority. After having contained 16 previous outbreaks, the DRC is mobilizing recognized scientific and operational expertise. And thanks to national mobilization and the support of our partners, the response has recently begun producing tangible results,” she told the United Nations General Assembly.
The US pledge on Wednesday brings the Trump administration’s commitment to tackling the outbreak to $886 million, including $107 million from the Department of Health and Human Services in addition to State Department funding.
The assistance would help countries contain the outbreak at its source, one of the officials said, such as for building treatment facilities, providing diagnostics and medical countermeasures for health workers in the field.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Stephen Coates)
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