Doctors Without Borders: Hundreds of Millions in Ebola Funds Have Disappeared in Congo — 'Speechless'

A report from the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) on Thursday revealed that, despite “hundreds of millions of dollars” from global aid groups being sent to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to fight the ongoing Ebola outbreak there, the situation on the ground remains destitute.

While the report did not explicitly identify corruption as the reason for what appears to be an insufficient impact by global funding on the health situation in DRC, it observed bizarre situations such as health centers apparently lacking basic sanitary supplies, ambulances with no gasoline to move, and official contact tracing teams that do not appear to actually exist, leaving unanswered who is receiving those salaries. Without proper protective gear, cleaning supplies to maintain health facilities, and the ability to monitor those exposed to the disease, Congolese health workers are fighting a losing battle against the illness.

The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) announced a public health emergency in the eastern DRC in May, though acknowledging that the outbreak of Ebola there may have begun months prior, potentially as early as in January. As of this week, health officials have documented over 11,000 cases of Ebola tied to the current outbreak and over 5,400 deaths, a fatality rate of about 50 percent.

Addressing the Ebola crisis, now the second-largest outbreak recorded in modern history, has proven difficult for a number of complicated factors in the region. The strain of Ebola circulating in eastern DRC, Bundibugyo, is considered a less common strain and one for which no vaccine or specific treatment outside of sustaining a patient through an infection currently exists. Independent of Ebola, the Ituri and North Kivu provinces where the virus is believed to be infecting the most people are notorious for armed militant warfare, primarily conflict among gangs over controlling “artisanal” mining centers and widespread violence by the Islamic State affiliate Allied Democratic Forces (ADF).

MSF acknowledged the intrinsic difficulties with addressing any health emergencies in DRC, but nonetheless expressed alarm at how little international resources appear to be improving the situation.

“Despite the considerable resources mobilized for the response, too little is reaching patients, frontline workers, and communities,” MSF said. “Hundreds of millions of dollars have been disbursed by the international community, yet critical shortcomings in essential aspects of the response persist, undermining efforts to halt the outbreak and save lives.”

The organization, which has operatives on the ground aiding the Ebola response effort, listed a variety of problems with health care in eastern DRC, including:

Untrained and unpaid response personnel, some of whom have gone on strike; vehicles and ambulances without fuel; surveillance teams that exist on paper but are nowhere to be seen on the ground; community workers without phones or mobile data to share alerts; and health care staff left without the supplies or technical support needed to handle suspected cases.

“Our teams are often left speechless by the dysfunction they witness in many areas. Six months into the response, this situation is simply unacceptable,” MSF International President Javid Abdelmoneim said.

MSF itself has poured over $70 million into Ebola response, which joins millions from other aid groups and from the W.H.O. and United Nations generally. This money, it insisted, was not visible on the ground in the DRC. MSF did not speculate on where the money went, instead encouraging the Congolese government to ensure it could keep track of funding.

“The Congolese government and United Nations agencies must ensure that the resources already mobilized translate into an effective response,” MSF said. “This means strengthening oversight and accountability, ensuring that response personnel are properly trained, paid, equipped, and supported, and directing resources towards the areas where needs are greatest.”

MSF is not alone in questioning how the funds to fight Ebola are being used on the ground. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned last week that it could not explain what happened to $700 million allocated to Ebola response in the country. According to the BBC, Africa CDC leader Jean Kaseya “said it was too early to describe it as embezzlement, characterising the issue as a major transparency and financial reporting failure.”

“Our requirement is clear: transparency must be total. The response relies on a single plan, a single budget, and a single coordination,” Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said in a statement following the Africa CDC remarks.

Health workers in Ebola face a dizzying array of challenges, including ADF and other militia attacks, widespread distrust among the populace towards medical personnel, extreme poverty, minimal travel infrastructure, and what has proven to be nearly no ability to trace the contacts of Ebola patients. On Friday, the United Nations Senior Ebola Response Coordinator Julien Harneis warned that the ADF was killing more people than Ebola in the eastern DRC, making contact tracking nearly impossible.

“People are scared, people are furious at the lack of action on this… following up contact tracing in areas where ADF operating is a very hazardous idea,” Harneis was quoted as saying.

We’ve seen so many attacks on healthcare, attacks on communities as well, attacks on people providing care, and people losing their lives, nurses in burials,” W.H.O. Executive Director of Health Emergencies Chikwe Ihekweazu said in the update. “So, we need to keep working with the community, and this is very important. And working with the specific groups instigating these attacks.”

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