UN releases $15m to fight Ebola in Guinea, DRC

The United Nations has allocated $15 million (N5.8 billion) to fight the fresh Ebola outbreaks in Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mr Mark Lowcock, who announced this on Tuesday, said it was an initial rapid allocation from the organisation’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Briefing newsmen, UN spokesman, Mr Stephane Dujarric, quoted Lowcock as saying the funding would help Guinea and DRC respond to the outbreak and support the preparedness of neighbouring countries.

“Detailed allocation decisions will be made in the next few days as we receive more details about specific requirements and needs on the ground,” Dujarric said.

Guinea declared the new outbreak on Feb. 14, four years after the world’s worst Ebola crisis in West Africa between 2013 and 2016.

That outbreak claimed no fewer than 11,300 lives mostly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

For its part, Congo announced its latest and 12th outbreak on Feb. 7 after a woman died of the disease in the northern province of Kivu.

It came after the World Health Organisation declared the world’s second-deadliest outbreak over in Congo in 2020.

The WHO has warned that the latest cases posed a risk to other African nations, and allied for “exceptional vigilance”.(NAN)