Trump Gutted USAID. Congo Pays the Price in an Ebola Epidemic

Those systems allowed Uganda to detect imported infections before they could spark sustained community transmission. Effective epidemic control depends not only on medical tools but also on functioning public institutions that can act quickly, coordinate across sectors, maintain public trust and reach communities before transmission becomes widespread.

International partners including the WHO, Africa CDC, the European Union, the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund have helped both countries respond to Ebola. But delivering assistance to Congo is a struggle. Armed conflict, damaged infrastructure, and restricted access to affected communities make it difficult to deploy response teams, deliver medical supplies, and conduct surveillance and contact tracing.  A weak healthcare system, shortages of frontline workers, funding gaps, and poor coordination compound the challenges.

For decades, Congo relied heavily on USAID during successive humanitarian crises. The agency’s dismantling, America’s withdrawal from the WHO, and cuts to the CDC have weakened international response to epidemics. With international support, countries with relatively strong health systems, such as Uganda, can contain Ebola. But countries such as Congo, where corruption has hollowed out the healthcare system, are harder to help when international institutions themselves have been weakened.