A worsening Ebola outbreak could slash up to $3.6 billion from Africa’s economy and destroy 328,000 jobs, triggering a catastrophic development crisis across the continent, the United Nations warned Tuesday.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed that even under a baseline containment scenario, the Democratic Republic of Congo alone faces a $1 billion real GDP loss and 55,000 lost jobs.
“If we have the resources and we step up, we can contain this outbreak and prevent further losses,” said Damien Mama, UNDP Resident Representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo, regarding the projections.
If regional transmission escalates alongside global shocks like rising fuel costs, continental GDP losses will hit $3.6 billion, compounding regional vulnerability as the Africa CDC struggles to bridge a massive funding gap.
“If we do not, this health emergency risks becoming a much deeper and prolonged development crisis across the region and potentially the continent,” Mama added, urging immediate global intervention.
The Africa CDC recently escalated its outbreak response budget to $1.4 billion. International donors have pledged $910 million, but sluggish disbursements are severely delaying critical frontline containment operations.
The economic shock is highly regressive, threatening to push nearly one million additional Africans into extreme poverty. Cross-border trade disruptions are devastating the informal sector, where vulnerable populations lack financial safety nets.
Women are bearing the brunt of the crisis. They disproportionately occupy high-risk frontline healthcare roles and dominate the informal cross-border market sectors currently paralyzed by border restrictions and fear.
Compounding the crisis, health officials are battling the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus. Unlike more common variants, this specific strain currently lacks any approved vaccine or effective therapeutic treatment.
