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A weekly development news platform published by UrgeDevWire, produced by Urge Communications. Covering wider East African region.

Inside Health News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire

Africa CDC and WHO Joint Continental Ebola Response Plan Seeks US$518 Million

ADDIS ABABA / BRAZZAVILLE, 5 June 2026

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization launched a joint continental preparedness and response plan for the ongoing Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak, calling for US$518 million to fund a six-month response covering June to November 2026.

The plan adopts a unified "One Response" approach bringing together governments, partners, and communities to coordinate outbreak control, disease surveillance, laboratory testing, infection prevention and control, clinical care, community engagement, research, and logistics. Africa CDC Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya stated that the continent must move faster than the virus, emphasising that the plan translates commitment into action.

At the time of its launch, funding was only 35 percent of the amount required, with the WHO reporting that the response was significantly under-resourced relative to the scale of transmission. The plan emphasises the need to maintain support for other simultaneous health emergencies in the region, including mpox, cholera, and measles.

In East Africa, 10 mobile laboratories are operating across Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, and the DRC. The units are funded by the German government through KfW Development Bank, with technical support from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine. The EAC Sectoral Council of Ministers of Health met in Arusha and agreed on unified surveillance standards and preventive measures at airports, seaports, and land borders, establishing a Regional Technical Task Force on Ebola preparedness.

Source: WHO / Africa CDC

Inside Health News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire