Kampala, Uganda – On January 20, US President Donald Trump suddenly reduced surveillance and response to an epidemic of the Sudan Ebola virus. Elon Musk, Trump’s right right hand, said at a meeting of the cabinet on February 26 that the financing of the Ebola response was “accidentally” cut but immediately restored. Health workers in Uganda, however, say that they have seen no sign that funding has been restored.
The United States for international development agency administered most of the United States’s foreign aid-until Trump’s decree suddenly closed it. Edith, who asked his full name not to be used for fear of reprisals, is a specialist in public health working on the Ebola response effort in Uganda. She has not seen any evidence that the financing of the Ebola response was restored.
“If the USAID funds for the prevention of Ebola were immediately restored, how is it that we were not informed?” she asked.
One of the indications that the money has been reduced, potentially for good, she says, is that the Ebola response and surveillance team only includes eight people – far from nearly 60 people who worked on an epidemic at the end of 2022 and early 2023, when American funding was in place.
The Ugandan government claims that the US government has supported its efforts to contain the virus – but has ceased to offer more details.
“We worked in close collaboration to control this epidemic, and we will continue to work in close collaboration,” said Health Minister Jane Ruth Aceng at a press conference on February 19, a few days before Musk insists that funding remained in place.
Global Press Journal contacted Aceng for more information but did not receive an answer. Diana Atwine, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Health, did not respond to requests for comments. Another government official refused to comment.
“If the USAID funds for the prevention of Ebola were immediately restored, how is it that we were not informed?” A health agency focused on Ebola which asked its full name not to be used for fear of remuneration
A health worker in a non -profit organization in Kampala, who asked not to be appointed, said that the funding was not restored: “Even when the Ministry of Health wanted to increase the number of responses and the members of the surveillance team to contain the spread, it could not, because it did not have the adequate support he needed.”
The Ugandan government said the Sudan virus epidemic on January 30, just days after Trump’s decree. So far, there have been 10 confirmed cases of illness and two people have died – a 32 -year -old nurse and a 4 -year -old boy.
The United States has been a major donor of global Ebola response efforts since the first Uganda epidemic in 2000. In the last epidemic, it provided more than 22 million US dollars (more than 82 billion Ugandan shillings), according to the United States Embassy in Uganda. This epidemic only lasted 69 days, ending in early January 2023, according to the World Health Organization. (The Order of the United States government to put an end to most foreign aids to make its way in the American judicial system, but the freezing of funding remains in force.)
Uganda could resolve this epidemic, given its previous experience, explains Lawrence Gostin, professor of law at the University of Georgetown and director of the WHO collaboration center for national and global health law. “He has the ability to do so,” he says, “and has been very effective in the past.”
To succeed, he says, Uganda must coordinate with the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO in Africa.
Until now, the response to Uganda epidemics has been rapid. By February 3, the country, in partnership with WHO, had already launched the very first vaccination trial for the Sudan strain. Researchers from the University of Makerere and Uganda Virus Research Institute, with WHO, prepared the test only after confirmation of the epidemic. This marks the first trial of clinical efficiency for a vaccine in Sudan Ebola, made possible thanks to advanced research preparation while meeting all regulatory and ethical standards.
Eight people confirmed that the virus was released on February 18, after two negative tests 72 hours apart. On February 20, 58 identified contacts were still under observation in quarantine facilities.
There were six Ebola epidemics recorded in Uganda, and death rates varied from around 40% to 70%. The last epidemic ended in January 2023. This epidemic led to 164 confirmed cases and 77 deaths, according to the World Health Organization. If American financing has not been restored, as the health workers suspect, Uganda will have to maintain its rapid and complete response to the current epidemic to avoid exceeding these figures.