EU gives €17.5 million to fight Ebola in Africa

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced that the European Commission has given €17.5 million to help fight the Ebola outbreak in Africa.

Africa CDC shared this news in a post on its official X account on Tuesday.

The agency said its Director-General, Jean Kaseya, met with the European Union Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib. They discussed the Ebola response and health cooperation between the African Union and the European Union.

“The @EU_Commission reaffirmed its strong support to Africa CDC by allocating 17.5 million euro to support the Ebola response.

“We thank the EU for this timely and concrete support,” Mr Kaseya was quoted as saying.

Africa CDC stated that Mr Kaseya also promised the agency's commitment to working together with partners. They aim to improve preparedness, surveillance, and response efforts across the continent.

Meanwhile, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) because of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda. This was done according to the rules set out in the International Health Regulations (IHR).

WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, told the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva that the declaration was made under Article 12 of the IHR due to worries about the outbreak.

“On 18 May, I declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for an Ebola outbreak in DRC and Uganda.

“This is the first time a Director-General has declared a PHEIC before calling an Emergency Committee,” Mr Ghebreyesus said.

He added that the committee will meet to discuss temporary recommendations on the quickly spreading outbreak.

“It was done under Article 12 of the IHR after consulting both health ministers, due to concerns over the scale and speed of the epidemic,” he said.