Donors have pledged $910 million, including $80 million from African Union member states, to support the emergency Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, health officials announced Thursday.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention stated that the commitments were secured during a high-level meeting to curb a rapidly expanding outbreak that is threatening to destabilize the central African region.
Health ministers plan to deploy the capital immediately to scale up cross-border surveillance, intensify contact tracing, and reinforce diagnostic laboratories along the highly active frontier connecting the two neighboring nations.
The multi-million-dollar mobilization comes amid warnings from Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya that the crisis could surpass the deadly 2014 West African epidemic if containment operations do not accelerate.
Recent data shows the outbreak has already caused at least 194 deaths and 827 cases, largely concentrated in the conflict-ridden North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri provinces of the DRC.
Compounding the crisis, scientists confirmed the outbreak is driven by the rare Bundibugyo virus strain, which currently lacks any licensed vaccines or approved therapeutic treatments, making transmission control critical.
Health workers face severe operational hurdles as active local transmission recently expanded into a large displacement camp, significantly increasing the risk of infection among thousands of vulnerable children.
The United Nations international migration agency recently deployed screening teams to 29 border checkpoints, including Entebbe International Airport, to track potential cross-border transmission routes.
