Experts Warn US Public Health Cuts Are Letting Deadly Ebola Outbreak Spiral Out of Control in Africa

This 1976 photograph shows two nurses standing in front of Ebola case #3, who was treated, and later died at Ngaliema Hospital, in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ebola hemorrhagic fever (Ebola HF) is a severe, often-fatal disease in humans, chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Health experts and researchers have raised concerns that an Ebola outbreak in central Africa is spreading more quickly than it should, pointing to reduced US public health support as a key factor limiting international response efforts.

The experts warn that US public health cuts are weakening surveillance and containment systems just as hundreds of cases emerge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, alongside confirmed infections in neighbouring countries.