Ranking Member Shaheen Statement on Ebola Outbreak and the Cost of President Trump’s Retreat on Global Health

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. Hundreds have been infected, including an American doctor, and over 100 have died. The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

"The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda is deeply concerning. This is the first major Ebola outbreak in a post-USAID world, and we are seeing the disastrous consequences of the Trump administration's reckless dismantling of the systems that protect Americans and prevent deadly diseases from reaching our shores.

"USAID played a critical role in supporting contact tracing to stop the spread of infections, providing critical medical supplies such as gloves, gowns, face masks and delivering vaccines to contain outbreaks. Without USAID, the United States is left without one of our first lines of defense against deadly viruses like Ebola. At the same time, our withdrawal from the WHO means we aren't supporting a coordinated international response to an outbreak that threatens to become global in scope. Despite these self-inflicted constraints, everything must be done to help local officials contain the outbreak and prevent it from reaching our shores.

"Now, more than ever, parties to conflict in Eastern DRC must enable and facilitate the humanitarian response to Ebola. The Rwanda-backed M23 must facilitate humanitarian access in areas that it controls by dropping any and all 'taxes,' fees and other burdens on aid workers and enable responders to use laboratory facilities in Goma to test samples. The Government of DRC and M23 must drop all ongoing restrictions on humanitarian access to the Goma airport to facilitate the transport of health commodities and aid workers. Drone strikes by the Government of DRC and M23 have had a profound effect on civilian populations and must end in order to promote a rapid and coordinated Ebola response."

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