Nearly US$500 million had been committed or pledged by governments, multilateral agencies and humanitarian partners.
Delays in mobilising resources and scaling up the response to the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak could lead to wider regional transmission and greater loss of life, African leaders and global health partners warned on Tuesday.
The warning comes amid indications that the outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda could become the second-largest Ebola outbreak after the 2014 West Africa epidemic that impacted several countries.
During a high-level virtual ministerial briefing convened by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the African Union, leaders backed a continental preparedness and response plan requiring at least US$319 million between June and November 2026 to strengthen outbreak control in affected countries and preparedness in at least 11 high-risk African Union member states.
It was also revealed that nearly US$500 million had been committed or pledged by governments, multilateral agencies and humanitarian partners. Africa CDC Director General Dr Jean Kaseya warmly welcomed the strong show of support, describing it as an important demonstration of global solidarity and commitment to addressing this critical challenge.
He said the next step under the joint Incident Management Support Team (IMST) would be to work with partners to validate the pledges, clarify the balance between new financing, repurposed resources, in-kind contributions and country-level allocations, and ensure that resources are directed toward the priority actions identified in the joint response plan.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said African countries had pledged some the funding needed, showing that the continent was taking ownership of the response. “African countries themselves have already committed initial domestic contributions representing approximately 10% of the required financing. Africa is no longer waiting passively for others to act,” said President Ramaphosa, who is also the African Union Champion for Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response,
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