HHS chief to world: U.S. to provide millions for Ebola response

The Trump administration is ready to provide up to $7 million to assist the response to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Tuesday.

Mr. Azar said the money, announced at the World Health Assembly in Switzerland, is on top of the $1 million that the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) devoted to the cause last week, bringing the U.S. commitment to $8 million.

He urged World Health Organization members to do their part, too, saying the global community cannot fall short in responding to global health threats.

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“I urge all member states to contribute to WHO’s flash appeal to ensure we defeat this outbreak,” he said.

President Trump’s financial commitment to the response comes days after the White House urged Congress to recapture $250 million in leftover Ebola money from the West Africa outbreak earlier this decade — part of a sweeping, $15 billion “rescission” package.

But the outbreak in the DRC worsened in the following days, forcing the U.S. to take notice.

Global responders are trying to contain the outbreak, which has resulted in nearly 50 cases and killed 27 people.

Health officials on Monday began using a trial vaccine to inoculate health workers and “rings” of contacts in the large city of Mbandaka and a remote area known as Bikoro.

Mr. Azar commended local officials for acting quickly, saying the global community dropped the ball at the start of the 2013-2016 outbreak in West Africa that killed more than 11,000.

“I strongly urge WHO to focus on its core purpose by continuing, as its first mission, to fix the problems it has had in the past in coordinating worldwide responses to health emergencies and emerging infectious disease threats,” he said. “In 2014’s Ebola crisis, thousands of West Africans died preventable deaths, and the world was humbled. With an Ebola outbreak now occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is all the more essential that WHO focuses on its most important mandate.”