Vigilance and concerted efforts continue to be needed to tackle the 10th Ebola epidemic in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, “in the most fragile and hard-to-reach areas”, but progress is being made, said Christos Stylianides, European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. He spoke on Wednesday 13 November at 10 p.m. in front of an almost empty Chamber.
“We need to strengthen our fight, and we are making progress through our efforts and those of our partners - laboratories, experts, researchers, donors and international organisations, patients, local communities and health workers”, he said. The epidemic, which broke out in August 2018, has affected more than 3,200 people and killed more than 2,100 people, unfortunately, but more than a thousand lives have been saved, he added.
According to him, this is because the four lessons learned from the experience of the worst Ebola epidemic in West Africa in 2014 are being applied, namely: 1) act quickly: this time, the EU has been involved from day one; 2) preparedness, which involves improving capabilities. “Now we can react thanks to the European medical corps, which is part of the EU’s civil protection mechanism”. These are teams of highly specialised doctors deployed in the very short term, with high-tech isolation units in collaboration with Norway and a rapid evacuation mechanism for medical staff, ‘Medivac’, in cooperation with the WHO; 3) strengthen local action: €118 million from the EDF has been mobilised to support local health sectors; 4) invest in care and prevention through vaccines and diagnostic tests. More than €231 million has been invested since 2014. “A vaccine is in the pipeline, a vaccine that is being used in the DRC and Uganda, the effects of which are very encouraging”, said the Commissioner.
The EU has just invested an additional €6 million to support new clinical trials in the DRC, as part of the Horizon 2020 programme (see EUROPE 12361/20).
On 11 November, the Commission granted a marketing authorisation to Merck Sharp & Dohme B.V. for the ‘Ervebo’ vaccine, which has been under development since the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. This decision follows the recommendation of the European Medicines Agency (EMA). It is already being used, as part of a specific protocol, to protect people at risk of infection, such as health workers or people who have been exposed to infected people. It was supported by two Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) projects funded by the Horizon 2020 programme.
Since August 2018, more than €47 million in humanitarian aid has also been disbursed by the EU in the DRC, as well as €5 million for prevention in neighbouring countries. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)