{ "id": "R45933", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R45933", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "summary": null, "typeId": "R", "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R45933", "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "type": "CRS Report", "retrieved": "2020-10-11T04:03:35.949265", "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "id": "R45933_5_2020-09-10", "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R45933/5", "sha1": "13ca46db1bb51c92f0ea50aa23cebdb6f379ebb4", "filename": "files/2020-09-10_R45933_13ca46db1bb51c92f0ea50aa23cebdb6f379ebb4.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2020-09-10_R45933_13ca46db1bb51c92f0ea50aa23cebdb6f379ebb4.html" } ], "active": true, "title": "Ebola Outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Emergencies or Enduring Threat? ", "date": "2020-09-10" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 605728, "date": "2019-09-27", "retrieved": "2019-10-10T22:25:48.693573", "title": "Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak: Democratic Republic of Congo ", "summary": "The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that began in August 2018 has eluded international containment efforts and posed significant challenges to local and international policymakers. The current outbreak is the 10th and largest on record in DRC, and the world\u2019s second largest ever (after the 2014-2016 West Africa outbreak). On July 17, 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the current DRC outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and called for increased donor funding. To date, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced nearly $158 million to support the response to the outbreak in DRC and neighboring countries, most of which has been funded through USAID-administered International Disaster Assistance (IDA) funds appropriated by Congress in FY2015.\nChallenges\nBroad challenges in DRC\u2014including unresolved armed conflicts, shortfalls in the local health care system, political tensions, community grievances, and criminal activities\u2014have hindered outbreak control. The main outbreak zone is an area of eastern DRC where long-running conflicts had already caused a protracted humanitarian crisis. In addition, the outbreak has coincided with a fraught political transition process in DRC, where a former opposition figure, Felix Tshisekedi, was inaugurated president in January 2019. The electoral process and tense negotiations over a coalition government have complicated Ebola response efforts, as well as coordination between national and provincial officials. Ebola and related response efforts have also diverted or interrupted already limited local health resources in affected areas. This phenomenon, in turn, has been linked to interruptions in routine immunization campaigns. Inadequate measles vaccine supplies have limited capacity to control a measles outbreak in DRC that began in January 2019 and has claimed more than 3,000 lives. \nSince June 2019, a handful of Ebola-infected individuals have been identified in the large city of Goma in eastern DRC (a staging area for humanitarian operations and U.N. peacekeeping activities in the country), in the city of Bukavu (south of the main outbreak zone), and in Uganda. Suspected cases were reported, but not confirmed, in Tanzania in mid-September 2019. Transmission outside the outbreak zone has been limited to date, which may be attributable to internationally supported surveillance and prevention efforts, as well as the use of an investigational vaccine. Concerns nevertheless persist that cases could spread to new areas and/or countries. Uganda (which borders the most affected areas in DRC) has prior experience in Ebola control, but Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi do not. Minimal state capacity and protracted conflict in South Sudan and the Central African Republic suggest that a coordinated disease control response in either setting could be highly challenging.\nIssues for Congress\nA potential issue for Congress is the level of funding allocated for global health security and pandemic preparedness versus outbreak response, with funding for outbreak response to date outweighing support for global outbreak prevention. Separately, the State Department\u2019s designation of DRC as a \u201cTier III\u201d (worst-performing) country under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA, Division A of P.L. 106-386, as amended) triggers restrictions on certain types of U.S. aid (not including IDA-funded activities). Several bills would authorize U.S. funding for programs intended to lower community resistance and otherwise support Ebola control in DRC and neighboring states, \u201cnotwithstanding\u201d the TVPA restrictions. These include S. 1340, the Ebola Eradication Act of 2019, which passed the Senate in September 2019; H.R. 3085, a House companion bill; and a Senate committee draft of the FY2020 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs appropriations bill circulated on September 18, 2019. Some Members of Congress have also monitored State Department security policies that have restricted U.S. government experts\u2019 travel to and within the outbreak zone.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R45933", "sha1": "9fbb784d9e594e2858c4e9c2672fa815ff288599", "filename": "files/20190927_R45933_9fbb784d9e594e2858c4e9c2672fa815ff288599.html", "images": { "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45933_files&id=/1.png": "files/20190927_R45933_images_6932132755d2e50cb693615e0efadc5cde18cba5.png", "/products/Getimages/?directory=R/html/R45933_files&id=/0.png": "files/20190927_R45933_images_e06d0213fc22617ee8edf258b0df7f63803d4c7b.png" } }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R45933", "sha1": "1a6df8c5a9a8b62fa6a8dff6cf60ce9074cedf0c", "filename": "files/20190927_R45933_1a6df8c5a9a8b62fa6a8dff6cf60ce9074cedf0c.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4757, "name": "Foreign Assistance" }, { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4879, "name": "Sub-Saharan Africa" } ] } ], "topics": [ "African Affairs", "Foreign Affairs" ] }