The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 16, 2014
FACT SHEET: U.S. Response to the Ebola Epidemic in West
Africa.
As the President has stated, the Ebola epidemic in West
Africa and the humanitarian crisis there is a top national security priority
for the United States. In order to
contain and combat it, we are partnering with the United Nations and other
international partners to help the Governments of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra
Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal respond just as we fortify our defenses at home.
Every outbreak of Ebola over the past 40 years has been contained, and we are
confident that this one can—and will be—as well.
Our strategy is predicated on four key goals:
Controlling the
epidemic at its source in West Africa;
Mitigating
second-order impacts, including blunting the economic, social, and political
tolls in the region;
Engaging and
coordinating with a broader global audience; and,
Fortifying global
health security infrastructure in the region and beyond.
New Resources to Confront a Growing Challenge
The United States will leverage the unique capabilities of
the U.S. military and broader uniformed services to help bring the epidemic
under control. These efforts will entail command and control, logistics
expertise, training, and engineering support.
U.S. Africa
Command will set up a Joint Force Command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia,
to provide regional command and control support to U.S. military activities and
facilitate coordination with U.S. government and international relief efforts.
A general from U.S. Army Africa, the Army component of U.S. Africa Command,
will lead this effort, which will involve an estimated 3,000 U.S. forces.
U.S. Africa
Command will establish a regional intermediate staging base (ISB) to facilitate
and expedite the transportation of equipment, supplies and personnel. Of the
U.S. forces taking part in this response, many will be stationed at the ISB.
Command engineers
will build additional Ebola Treatment Units in affected areas, and the U.S.
Government will help recruit and organize medical personnel to staff them.
Additionally, the
Command will establish a site to train up to 500 health care providers per
week, enabling healthcare workers to safely provide direct medical care to
patients.
The United States
Public Health Service Commissioned Corps is preparing to deploy 65 Commissioned
Corps officers to Liberia to manage and staff a previously announced Department
of Defense (DoD) hospital to care for healthcare workers who become ill. The
deployment roster will consist of administrators, clinicians, and support staff.
Simple and scalable strategies that complement the use of
Ebola Treatment Units are urgently required to disrupt the disease’s
transmission. A community- and home-based strategy that supports household and
communities is a critical step to moving forward:
USAID is
supporting a Community Care Campaign, which will provide communities and
households with protection kits, appropriate information and training on how to
protect themselves and their loved ones. In partnership with the United Nations
Children Fund, the Paul Allen Family Foundation, and other key partners, we
will immediately target the 400,000 most vulnerable households in Liberia. The
package will subsequently be scaled to cover the country and the broader
region.
As part of this
effort, this week, USAID will airlift 50,000 home health care kits from Denmark
to Liberia to be hand-delivered to distant communities by trained youth
volunteers.
A Complement to Efforts To-Date
Applying this whole-of-government approach, we have been engaged
on this outbreak since March when the first cases were reported in West Africa.
We currently have in the affected countries more than 100 specialists from
multiple U.S. departments and agencies, including the Departments of State and
Health and Human Services (HHS), the CDC, the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), and DoD. We also are working intensively on this effort
with the United Nations, including the World Health Organization, the
governments of the affected countries, and other partners, including the United
Kingdom, France, Germany, Norway, the Africa Union, and European Union.
To date we have
spent more than $100 million to address this challenge, including the purchase
of personal protective equipment, mobile labs, logistics and relief
commodities, and support for community health workers. USAID also has announced
plans to make available up to $75 million in additional funding to increase the
number of Ebola treatment units, provide more personal protective equipment,
airlift additional medical and emergency supplies, and support other Ebola
response activities in collaboration with the UN, including the World Health
Organization, and international partners.
CDC has provided
on the ground expertise in the largest international response in its history.
More than 100 CDC personnel are on the ground in West Africa, and hundreds of
personnel at their Emergency Operations Center in Atlanta have provided around
the clock logistics, staffing, communication, analytics, management, and other
support functions. The Administration has asked Congress for an additional $30
million to send additional response workers from the CDC as well as lab
supplies and equipment.
In August, USAID
deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to West Africa to
coordinate and prioritize the U.S. government’s response to the outbreak. The
DART assesses and identifies priority needs and coordinates key areas of the
response, such as planning, operations, and logistics. The 28-member DART team
is comprised of staff from USAID, CDC, DoD, and the U.S. Forest Service. The
DART will be airlifting 130,000 sets of personal protective equipment to ensure
that health care workers have the resources needed to safely do their jobs. The
DART is also in the process of procuring generators that will provide
electricity to Ebola treatment units and other response facilities.
The National
Institutes of Health (NIH) is developing an investigational Ebola vaccine,
including recently starting phase 1 clinical trials, as well as supporting
efforts to develop additional Ebola antivirals and therapeutics candidates. The
Administration has asked Congress for an additional $58 million to support the
development and manufacturing of Ebola therapeutic and vaccine candidates
through Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.
In addition to the
measures announced today, DoD plans to send a field-deployable hospital to
Liberia and has provided more than 10,000 Ebola test kits to the Liberian
Institute of Biological Research and to Sierra Leone's Kenema Government
Hospital. DoD also has provided personal protective equipment and training to
local medical professionals in affected regions.
DoD also has
requested to reprogram $500 million in Fiscal Year 2014 Overseas Contingency
Operations funds for humanitarian assistance, a portion of which will be used
to fulfill requirements identified by CDC, USAID, the Joint Staff, and U.S.
Africa Command to provide military air transportation of DoD and non-DoD
personnel and supplies; medical treatment facilities (e.g. isolation units),
personnel protective equipment, and medical supplies; logistics and engineering
support, and; subject matter experts in support of sanitation and mortuary
affairs.
DoD’s Cooperative
Threat Reduction program is redirecting $25 million to provide personal
protective equipment and laboratory reagents, support for technical advisors,
and other requests as validated by the DART. DoD has also requested to
reprogram an additional $60 million to enable the CTR program to address urgent
biosafety, biosecurity, and biosurveillance needs in the three countries most
affected by the Ebola outbreak, as well as bolster the capabilities of
neighboring countries and other partners in Africa.
Last month, USAID
airlifted more than 16 tons of medical supplies and emergency equipment to
Liberia, including: 10,000 sets of personal protective equipment, two water
treatment units and two portable water tanks capable of storing 10,000 liters
each, and 100 rolls of plastic sheeting which can be used in the construction
of Ebola treatment units. Additionally, in late August the DART airlifted 5,000
body bags to step up support for the safe removal and transport of the bodies
of Ebola victims and 500 infrared thermometers to bolster Ebola screening
efforts. These supplies will be distributed and used by the WHO and Liberian
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
USAID and the
State Department are providing up to $10 million to support the deployment of
an African Union mission sending more than 100 health care workers to the
region. The State Department also has encouraged other governments to increase
assistance; coordinate delivery of critical resources, including personnel,
equipment, and medical supplies; and encourage airlines operating in the region
to maintain or reinstate service while ensuring appropriate precautions.
Additionally, the
State Department has supported public education efforts in Liberia, Sierra
Leone, and Guinea regarding prevention and treatment of the disease. The effort has included radio and television
messages in local languages, the production of nearly 100 billboards and
thousands of posters, program support to local non-governmental organizations
and a special song commissioned by a popular local musician.
Earlier this
month, President Obama released a message to the people of West Africa to
reinforce the facts and dispel myths surrounding Ebola. The video was
transcribed into French, Portuguese, and other local languages and was
distributed to television and radio stations across the region. Tens of
thousands of West Africans viewed or listened to the message.
Screening Efforts Overseas
In addition to our efforts to help the affected West African
countries bring this outbreak under control, we have taken steps to fortify
against the introduction of Ebola cases into the United States. It is important
to note that Ebola is not highly contagious like the flu; to the contrary, the
virus is spread through direct contact with the blood or body fluids of a
symptomatic individual.
CDC is working
closely with Customs and Border Protection and other partners at ports of
entry—primarily international airports—to use routine processes to identify
travelers who show signs of infectious disease. In response to the outbreak,
these processes have been enhanced through guidance and training. If a sick
traveler is identified during or after a flight, the traveler will be
immediately isolated, and CDC will conduct an investigation of exposed
travelers and work with the airline, federal partners, and state and local
health departments to notify them and take any necessary public health action.
CDC is assisting
with exit screening and communication efforts in West Africa to prevent sick
travelers from boarding planes. It also has issued interim guidance about Ebola
virus infection for airline flight crews, cleaning personnel, and cargo
personnel.
CDC also has
issued advice for colleges, universities, and students about study abroad,
foreign exchange, and other education-related travel, as well as advice for
students who have recently traveled from a country in which an Ebola outbreak
is occurring. Similarly, CDC has developed recommendations for humanitarian aid
workers traveling to Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone during the
Ebola outbreaks in these countries. The recommendations include steps to take
before departure, during travel, and upon return to the United States.
Preparedness at Home
Despite the tragic epidemic in West Africa, U.S. health
professionals agree it is highly unlikely that we would experience an Ebola
outbreak here in the United States, given our robust health care infrastructure
and rapid response capabilities. Nevertheless, we have taken extra measures to
prevent the unintentional importation of cases into the United States, and if a
patient does make it here, our national health system has the capacity and expertise
to quickly detect and contain this disease.
CDC has worked to
enhance surveillance and laboratory testing capacity in states to detect cases
and improve case finding. CDC is developing guidance and tools for health
departments to conduct public health investigations and improve health
communication and continues to update recommendations for healthcare infection
control and other measures to prevent the disease from spreading. Similarly,
HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and CDC
are providing guidance documents to hospitals and other health care partners to
support preparedness for a possible Ebola case.
CDC also has
prepared U.S. healthcare facilities and emergency medical service systems to
safely manage a patient with suspected Ebola virus disease. CDC communicates
with healthcare workers on an ongoing basis through the Health Alert Network,
the Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity, and a variety of other
existing tools and mechanisms. CDC developed
Interim Guidance for Monitoring and Movement of Persons with Ebola Virus
Disease Exposure to provide public health authorities and other partners with a
framework for evaluating people’s level of exposure to Ebola and initiating
appropriate public health actions on the basis of exposure level and clinical
assessment.
The Food and Drug
Administration is monitoring for fraudulent products and false product claims
related to the Ebola virus and is prepared to take enforcement actions, as
warranted, to protect the public health.
Securing the Future
The Ebola epidemic reminds us that our global efforts to
build the capacity to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to infectious
disease threats like Ebola have never been more vital. In February, we came together with nations
around the world to launch the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) as a five
year effort to accelerate action.
CDC is
contributing to the GHSA by partnering with nations around the world to help
them establish measurable global health security capacity. This includes core
CDC partnership programs like the Global Disease Detection Centers and Field
Epidemiology Training Program, which enable the laboratory systems, disease
surveillance workforce, emergency operations center capacity, and biosafety and
biosecurity best practices required to counter Ebola and other biological
threats.
Over the next five
years the United States has committed to working with at least 30 partner
countries to invest in model systems to advance the Global Health Security
agenda. CDC and DoD will work with other U.S. agencies and partner countries to
establish emergency operations centers, build information systems, and
strengthen laboratory security to mitigate biological threats and build partner
capacity
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