US releases additional US$267mil to combat Ebola outbreak

The United States on Wednesday announced the release of an additional US$267 million in funding to support the fight against the ongoing Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“To date, the United States government has provided US$887 million in direct health and humanitarian assistance to combat the Ebola outbreak,” the US state department said in a statement, adding that Washington was the largest aid provider for the latest outbreak.

The aid announcement, made on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, also seeks to “call on capable nations to increase burden sharing to meet the urgency of the moment,” the statement said.

Outgoing UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres last month issued an appeal to raise an additional $1.1 billion in aid against the epidemic, which continues to spread to new parts of the DRC, according to the NGO Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,600 people and infected 7,500 since mid-May, according to Congolese public health officials, making it the DRC’s worst recorded epidemic of the disease.