UN chief seeks $1.1bn to sustain DRC Ebola response

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to a report by Punch Newspapers, appealed Thursday for $1.1 billion to fully fund the $2.1 billion Ebola response plan in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Despite a major US contribution, the programme remains only 48 per cent funded, with resources expected to last “weeks, not months,” he warned. Over 5,600 confirmed Ebola cases, including more than 2,700 deaths, have been recorded since the outbreak began on May 15. Driven by the untreatable Bundibugyo strain, it is the DRC’s deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, worsened by community testing resistance.