The US is urged to restore health aid by Africa’s top health official

The top public health officer in Africa will write to the U.S. Secretary of State on Thursday to draw attention to the ways that the U.S. assistance freeze is endangering the lives of people throughout the continent and the efforts to control disease outbreaks that may eventually affect Americans.

Marco Rubio will hear worries from Jean Kaseya, the head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), regarding the impact on patients suffering from HIV and the possibility of an mpox pandemic that is also being fanned by war in eastern Congo, he told Reuters.

“When I got the information about the pause …I was alarmed,” Kaseya stated. “Without funding, how are we going to address all of the ongoing outbreaks?”

In a letter to African leaders over the weekend, Kaseya said that if immediate action is not taken to close the funding gaps brought on by the U.S. freeze and other governments reducing aid funds, an additional 2-4 million people could die each year on the continent from diseases that could be prevented.

He warned that without adequately financed attempts to curb disease outbreaks, they will spread further, saying, “This pause will not just affect Africa but also the U.S.”

Kaseya stated in both letters that conflict was also endangering the health response in some parts of Africa.

He said the mpox response, along with measles and cholera epidemics, has been affected by fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The security situation in Goma, for instance, has left millions of doses of mpox vaccines, including those provided by Japan for children, stranded in Kinshasa.

“The COVID lessons need not be forgotten by the United States or anyone else. “If you don’t pay attention to what’s happening in Africa, there’s a chance that the virus will grow into a pandemic and impact everyone,” Kaseya stated.

“Africa CDC is short about $200 million for its efforts to fight mpox, part of the $1.1 billion originally pledged,” he said, referring to the financial freeze and U.S. aid pause.

Although he thanked Rubio for the waiver granted for lifesaving help and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), he stated that the aid freeze must be promptly repealed for this and other endeavors.