Africa must invest own funds in Ebola response, says CDC head

The head of Africa’s Centers For Disease Control says the continent needs to invest its own funds in Ebola response.

The current outbreak has already claimed more than 200 lives and some 900 people are confirmed to have been infected.

The number of actual cases is believed to be higher because the outbreak was confirmed weeks late.

Response efforts have been challenged by the lack of an approved vaccine or treatment for the Bundibugyo virus driving the current outbreak.

“If this outbreak was in Europe, was in the US, or other continent, other places, they would already develop vaccine and medicine," Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC, said at the CDC headquarters in Addis Ababa.

"For them they don't find interest, it's not their disease, they don't find interest, they are not, it's not their people who are dying, and I think this is also a wake-up for Africans. We need to take care of ourselves, we need to say it's time for us to really think strongly about how we can start to manufacturing medicines and vaccines to respond to our needs.”

Recent health shocks, including the COVID-19 pandemic, have triggered efforts to boost vaccine production in Africa, but little has yet been achieved. While efforts are in place to speed up the development of vaccines and diagnostics, Kaseya said he is unsure a vaccine will be available by the end of the year.

He added that the peak of the Ebola outbreak is still to come because of slow progress in identifying and monitoring contacts.

Officials have yet to identify the outbreak’s patient zero and still need to trace more than 36,000 people who have come in contact with infected individuals, Kaseya said.