The perfect storm for Ebola
In July 2014, Donald Trump – then still a private citizen and real estate mogul famous for his TV show The apprentice– was tweeting non-stop about the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the most serious and lethal epidemic of this virus since its discovery in 1976. His now well-known and persistent all-caps messages intensified in October when a New York doctor who had returned from Guinea tested positive: “Stop the flights,” he said, and later, he demanded the resignation of Barack Obama, the then-President of the United States.
In contrast, since the start of the epidemic in Congo at the beginning of this monththeir drastic cuts to foreign aidHowever, once in the White House, during his first term, his management of the covid pandemic, especially in its early stages, was slow, erratic, and improvised. Now, on his return, his drastic cuts in foreign aid and public health resources make the medical response very difficult in a region already plagued by conflict. While the risk of global contagion is lower because the outbreak has occurred in a very rural area less connected to the world, the impact on the population of these countries could be devastating, according to Ron Klain, Ebola czar during the Obama administration and former chief of staff to Joe Biden, a few days ago.
Another difference between the 2014 epidemic and the current one is the strain of the virus. The Bundibugyo strain is less lethal, at 30%, instead of 90% for the Zaire strain. However, it presents a critical disadvantage: it has no vaccine or treatment. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak, which has already claimed the lives of over 170 people and infected more than 750, an international public health emergency due to its rapid spread and regional risk.
A slow and insufficient response
When during the first months of his second term Trump dismantled USAID, the historic U.S. international aid agency, and once again withdrew the country from the WHO, many aid workers, doctors, epidemiologists, and public health officials warned that the decision would have serious consequences. This cut led to the dismissal of many professionals who worked on the ground in direct contact with local doctors. Likewise, it left the international health organization's emergency fund practically empty and choked the budgets of humanitarian organizations, which were forced to close their prevention programs.
In 2014, Barack Obama treated the Ebola crisis as a national security priority and "an ethical obligation as a world leader." The United States led and coordinated a response where affected countries were divided: France took charge of Guinea, the United Kingdom deployed to Sierra Leone, and the U.S. focused on Liberia, where they sent 3,000 soldiers and millions of dollars to build 17 triage centers that helped NGOs and the WHO stop the virus by 2015.
Trump's reaction to the current public health crisis – currently regional and not affecting his country, but which could become global – is, once again, slow and insufficient. Aid workers assure that the White House has no real strategy on the ground and has only limited itself to mobilizing 23 million dollars, a meager figure given an infrastructure and resources already severely depleted by its own measures.
All this is added to a country at war. The east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is immersed in a chronic conflict with more than a hundred armed militias controlling the territory and causing massive massacres and millions of internally displaced people. On the other hand, more than a quarter of a century of UN peacekeeping mission has created mistrust and frustration among the population due to its inability to stop the rebels and has been tarnished by scandals of sexual abuse and smuggling. All in all, the perfect storm for Ebola.