EU disease agency urges states to stay on alert, after Ebola case confirmed in France

by · EUobserver

The EU’s mobile laboratory in Gueckedou working on samples from patients to be tested for the presence of Ebola Virus. (Photo: European Commission)

EU and the World

Unlock article and share
By Benjamin Fox,
Nairobi
,

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has called for EU health ministries to be extra vigilant and “continue strengthening their preparedness” for the possible spread of the Ebola virus after the first confirmed case in Europe. 

France confirmed this week the first case of Ebola in the EU after a doctor returning to France from a humanitarian mission in eastern DR Congo, which is the epicentre of the outbreak, tested positive. 

The ECDC said in a statement on Thursday (25 June) that “the risk of sustained transmission within the EU/EEA is very low provided that effective measures for early detection, isolation and treatment of patients are in place.” 

The World Health Organisation and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) launched a six-month programme in early June to raise $518m [€455.3m] to support national health systems across Africa.

The programme will focus on “emergency coordination, disease surveillance, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control, clinical care, community engagement, research, logistics and support for essential health services,” the WHO and Africa CDC said in a joint statement. 

So far, at least 202 people are known to have died in DR Congo since the Ebola outbreak was confirmed in May, according to Africa CDC. Close to 1,000 cases have been confirmed. 

A series of scenarios published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in early June pointed to a likely caseload of more than 20,000, making the emergency comparable to the 2014-16 West Africa outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people. 

With the Trump administration having slashed US funding for global healthcare, the EU has emerged as the biggest single donor.  

The European Commission said on 17 June that it would fund the response to the Ebola outbreak ‌with a €493m financial aid package. 

In May, the commission unveiled a Global Health Resilience Initiative to channel €100m into African projects to strengthen national public health institutes and improve health security as part of its efforts to position itself as a stronger global health actor following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Germany and the European Union are also the main donors to the East African Community’s Pandemic Project, which seeks to harmonise contact tracing, training for health workers and to purchase personal protective equipment across the region. 

However, health officials in Africa have expressed concern at the slow pace of funding reaching the ground.

Officials from the Africa Centres for Disease Control told reporters on 19 June that less than 10 percent of the $910m in pledged made to support the fight against ‌Ebola in DR Congo and Uganda had been received from donors. 

For the moment, since no vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has progressed beyond the testing phase, health officials are making containment through contact tracing their top priority. 

The commission will also host an EU Global Health Policy Forum on 30 June that is likely to focus on how to coordinate national responses in Europe and central Africa. 

Unlock article and share

Latest from Africa

Europe’s ugly anti‑migrant politics just found a new stage: South Africa

EU governments back Global Gateway — but insist Brussels explain where the billions go

Latest from Health

Europe faces 80,000 new HIV infections in next three years, as STDs surge

Listen: Is tap water in the EU becoming less safe?

Latest from Society

Budapest free to celebrate Pride again, but Orbán-surveillance machine still in place

Listen: As heatwaves sweep across Europe, is the EU investing enough to adapt buildings to extreme heat?

Latest from EU and the World

Putin keen to offset bad news on Crimea by capture of Kostyantynivka, as Russians advance by crawling between houses (Ukraine Battlefield update, Day 1,582)

German appetite for Russian cod puts EU fish sanctions at risk

The EU's mobile laboratory in Gueckedou working on samples from patients to be tested for the presence of Ebola Virus. (Photo: European Commission)

Topics

Author Bio

Benjamin Fox is our trade and geopolitics editor. His reporting has also been published in the Guardian, the East African, Euractiv, Private Eye and Africa Confidential, among others. He is based in Nairobi, Kenya, although he often reports from London.

+ Follow author by email