Timely funding to help contain Ebola virus in DRC
Mark Naftalin.

Timely funding to help contain Ebola virus in DRC

Claudia Hargarten

In early May, Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, announced an immediate $2 million allocation from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to help humanitarian partners in the DRC fight and contain a new outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD).

Timely funding to help contain Ebola virus in DRC
“We know that coordinated early response will be critical containing this outbreak. This CERF allocation will help our humanitarian partners to deliver vital services to people in affected communities and to stop the spread of the virus,” said ERC Lowcock.

The ERC approved the CERF Rapid Response allocation within 48 hours of the Government of the DRC declaring the new EVD outbreak in Bikoro in Equateur Province on 8 May.

The $2 million from CERF will help UN Agencies and partners kick-start the immediate response in support of the Government. Urgent activities include critical health action such as surveillance, treatment, community mobilization and sensitization, safe and dignified burials, and supporting logistics services.

Timely funding to help contain Ebola virus in DRC
UNICEF/Mark Naftalin

According to the World Health Organization, this is DRC’s ninth outbreak of EVD since the discovery of the virus in the country in 1976.