G7 Agrees on Emergency Ebola Response Fund for Central Africa

KANANASKIS — Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialised nations have agreed to establish an emergency Ebola response fund to support containment efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The agreement was reached at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada on Friday. The fund will provide resources for treatment centres, community engagement, contact tracing, and vaccine deployment in Ituri Province.

The G7 decision follows WHO’s warning that the window for containing the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak is narrowing rapidly. The outbreak has now recorded over 900 suspected cases and more than 200 deaths. Eighteen patients who escaped from a treatment centre in Mongbwalu after a community attack remain at large, complicating containment.

US President Trump, who is hosting the summit alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, said the Ebola response is a global responsibility. He said the United States has already deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team to DRC and will contribute the largest share to the emergency fund.

What the Fund Will Support

The G7 emergency fund will finance the rapid construction of new treatment centres, the procurement and deployment of additional vaccine doses, the expansion of community health worker networks, and the provision of safe burial teams for communities where traditional burial practices are accelerating transmission.

WHO Director-General Tedros said the G7 decision is the kind of decisive international action that the outbreak demands. He said Ebola does not respect borders and that investing in containment in DRC now is infinitely cheaper than managing a wider epidemic later.

For Nigeria, the G7 Ebola fund provides some reassurance that international support for the DRC response is being mobilised. The NCDC confirmed on Friday that Nigeria still has no confirmed Ebola cases. However, officials said they are treating the situation as a pre-outbreak emergency and will maintain elevated surveillance and preparedness measures until the DRC outbreak is officially declared contained.