As Trump shuts down USAID missions, officials warn Ebola outbreak in Uganda will spread
Some health officials in the U.S. fear the closure of the U.S. international development mission agency could have catastrophic results as the stagnation of foreign aid forced them to speak of the early U.S. delays on the “chaos” of Uganda’s swollen Ebola outbreak.
The outbreak marks one-eighth of Uganda’s Ebola virus. The first confirmed case outbreak Once Nurse He was infected with Ebola on January 20 or January 21 and died on January 29 in Kampala, a hospital in the U.S. capital.
There are now six confirmed and six suspicious cases. In two suspicious cases, according to an internal slide shared with CBS News, health authorities found no epidemiological links to other cases.
To date, more than a dozen Americans in Uganda have also been exposed to Sudan, the type of Ebola that infected the initial cases. So far, these people have not shown any symptoms, two familiar people told CBS News.
The Food and Drug Administration approves vaccines or treatments approved by Sudan virus. In at least 41% of reported cases during past outbreaks, this Ebola strain was fatal. according to World Health Organization.
The new outbreak coincides with the Trump administration’s pause in foreign aid, including its response to potentially spreading international outbreaks. This creates uncertainty among healthy nonprofits, which now face outstanding debts and freeze on most of the U.S. funds.
“We’re talking about disaster relief workers, we’re talking about health workers and people who are doing well in the United States and protecting the United States,” Dr. Atul Gawande, former USDA Global Health Director, told CBS News. on Monday.
A U.S. official said the suspension has resulted in understaffed contact tracing and screening of international travelers in Uganda as many experts across the region have been fired or ordered to stop work.
USAID takes almost all of its employees off On Friday And the overseas mission is being closed.
“This puts the world in danger,” an U.S. Agency for International Development official said in a message. The official added: “I’m not a sirens, but it’s very bad.”
In 2022, the Sudanese outbreak in Uganda triggered a reaction from the United States. USA rising Screening and preparing for viruses and sending Staff and resources To help Uganda work hard to control its spread.
Uganda’s health care system has been extended in recent months, with another outbreak of another disease – the MPOX outbreak, which has resulted in at least 2,031 cases. according to WHO.
A State Department spokesperson and U.S. Agency for International Development did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
President Trump also ordered the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization, which matches the need for all U.S. government workers Serious collaboration United Nations agencies are helping to coordinate responses within countries.
A U.S. health official said the CDC often works closely with the WHO and a country’s health authorities and often meet daily to coordinate responses to the outbreak.
Despite the president’s orders regarding whom, “the CDC has been liquidated to make one-on-one statements one-on-one related to Uganda’s response activities,” a CDC spokesman said in a statement. The CDC said responses to other outbreaks of concerns about Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo also allow such dialogue.
An attempt by U.S. agencies to deploy employees to help out the outbreak has also been delayed amid a pause in government-wide travel and spending.
Two familiar people said that while officials received waivers from the State Department Saturday to release some funds in response, many recipients of U.S. funds were reluctant to accept the money due to turmoil in Washington.
Nonprofits have also been struggling to address the Trump administration’s growing demands on conditions for access to funding, such as the order to clear all genders and diversity at all levels and activities, regardless of your location or citizenship employees. Or the contractor “backed in dollars.”
People say that in Uganda, groups are still awaiting clarification from USDA’s domestic contacts to see how the exemptions will apply to their work.
According to Mr. Trump’s executive order, the country’s Ministry of Health urges all staff supported by the CDC and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to “continue the patriotism of volunteering”, which is CBS News (CBS News) in a letter Ugandan officials seeking to “return to normalcy.”
“Radio Silence” of CDC
Officials told CBS News that the growing outbreak in Uganda has also puzzled some state and local health authorities about the “radio silence” of the CDC.
CDC officials soon began to step up their case preparations in past outbreaks
During the “suspension” of the Department of Health and Human Services or HHS, health authorities often rely on external meetings and information sharing that communicate with CDC officials.
A HHS spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The communication pause was initially expected to end last weekend, but many federal health officials said they still face delays or denials to obtain approval to publish information or attend external meetings.
Andrew Nixon, the department’s communications director, told CBS News that HHS has approved many communications related to critical health and safety needs and will continue to do so, and HHS continues to improve staff levels. ” in earlier statements.
Officials say some states have been working to build informal partnerships to increase their preparations for the arrival of potential cases.
CDC can release Wednesday’s travel alert was on a trip to Uganda, but it omitted links and information from the WHO outbreak update.
Other donors intervene
Not all health experts are shocked by the current situation.
Two U.S. infectious disease physicians have expressed confidence in the country working with the outbreak, and that other groups and countries can fill the gap with U.S. support, but acknowledged they are concerned about the possibility of undetected transmission and delays in the response.
In past Ebola outbreaks, the United States has often funded many key steps to curb its earliest outbreaks, including the rush to build isolation facilities and support the outbreak response of a range of NGOs.
Through institutions such as the Uganda Virology Institute, U.S.-funded laboratories have often been on the frontlines of past responses to outbreaks.
Some groups, such as Sansantières and some of Who, have tried to cover up the shortage. WHO Recently praised It has carried out vaccination trials with the help of Canada and Europe to respond to the outbreak.
Russia may also help fill the vacuum left by the U.S. when it leaves: State media recently said the country has launched a mobile lab in Uganda’s capital to help the outbreak.
