Trump Ebola's response: Security officials have banned health experts from helping

One of the largest Ebola epidemics in history shows no signs of slowing down – and the Trump administration has banned US health experts wishing to help at the epicenter of the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo's To make it there.

Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were working in Beni, the city behind the epidemic in eastern DRC, for a few days in late August and early September. Experts say this is an unusually short period for the response to infectious diseases; CDC deployments usually last at least four weeks and many last for several months.

Then, the White House National Security Council (NSC) coordinated a government security risk review, which included representatives of several government agencies and departments. The review determined that CDC officials could not return to areas where militant attacks threaten security, including in Beni. On October 14, Stat News reported for the first time that the United States had withdrawn from the area.

"It's unprecedented that the CDC's expertise is not central to the answer because that's what has been done for other epidemics," Vox told Stephen Morrison, expert on global health in the think tank of the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies. . "We have CDC staff members who are veterans of nearly two dozen outbreaks."

Other people on the ground fighting the Ebola outbreak, which has caused 251 cases and 127 deaths to date, said they did not notice the brief presence of the CDC. A senior humanitarian official not affiliated with the Trump administration told Vox that he thought the CDC experts were never in Beni.

Another senior humanitarian official in the administration, who is not part of the administration, added that although America has vehicles on the ground in the city, they have not been used. "These three armored vehicles of the US Embassy installed in the UN parking lot in Beni for two months have never moved," said the official.

However, CDC officials insist in their conversations with Vox that its experts were working in Beni.

The relatively lukewarm reaction of the United States, as the epidemic is gaining momentum, has involved former CDC officials and experts in global health. "I fear that, in the worst case, tens of thousands of people will no longer declare themselves," said Daniel Bausch, director of the British public health rapid assistance team, "as well as than the complete destabilization of an already unstable region. "

It's an "unprecedented" answer – in a bad way

Tom Frieden, the former CDC official who responded to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2014 to 2016, said it was "unusual" and "not optimal" that CDC experts do not work at the epicenter of the disease.

Others are in agreement: DRC health workers and other people on the ground who are fighting the Ebola outbreak do not win the match ", said Morrison. "They must have on the field all the competent players, experienced and able to solve these problems."

The epidemic began in July and has worsened in recent weeks after a series of violent attacks against civilians by Congolese rebels who have temporarily interrupted the public health intervention .

A CDC spokesman said his staff were in Kinshasa, 1,000 km from the outbreak zone, "in early September," where they continue to support the response. But before that, the CDC's involvement in eastern DRC was unusually limited.The CDC said its director, Robert Redfield, was in Beni for a day, while other staff members did not want to be involved. were there only "several days".

AFP / Getty Images

Redfield told Stat executive director Rick Berke on Tuesday that he wanted CDC officials to be on the ground in eastern DRC to help with the response to the outbreak, but his safety concerns had spread him.

"The [Ebola responders are] huge disadvantage of not having the CDC's expertise on the ground, "he said, adding that he would be" happy "to go there himself to help.

To date, only 18 CDC staff members are deployed overseas to help fight the Ebola virus. Not everyone is in the DRC (outside the epicenter of the epidemic). They are distributed in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan. and Switzerland too.

The CDC wants to be in Beni. The administration says it's too risky.

The argument for keeping health officials in eastern DRC comes down to this: it's a dangerous area and no one wants to put American officials at risk.

"This extremely unstable environment makes this response extremely difficult and can complicate public health activities," said a state media official.

Some experts are in agreement. There are more and more attacks perpetrated by a militant group in the region, said Vox J. Peter Pham, an African expert from the Atlantic Council in Washington. Last Sunday, 15 people were massacred during an attack in this locality.

"US personnel are particularly vulnerable," said Pham, because in an emergency, there are few US troops or equipment in the area. And relations between the DRC government and the United States have not been warm lately.

Bill O'Leary / The Washington Post via Getty Images

ACAPS, an independent group that ranks humanitarian access in countries, calls the DRC "almost inaccessible", as well as a handful of other countries, including Libya, Afghanistan and Somalia. It's just a level below the worst "inaccessible" world ranking.

"We are deeply concerned about the loss of life resulting from attacks by armed groups in the region," said a State Department official, adding that the department was "currently engaged in an inter-agency deliberation process."

Other countries and NGOs send people to the DRC. The United States is not.

The response to this epidemic in the DRC may be unusual in part because it is the first time the Ebola virus has spread to an active war zone.

In eastern DRC, armed opposition groups are carrying out deadly attacks on civilians, forcing more than a million people to leave their homes, according to the UN agency for refugees.

But while the United States remains in the country, officials from other countries, including Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as NGOs and humanitarian groups are sending staff to help deal with the crisis. # 39; Ebola. As of October 15, there were 450 field workers. One of them – Scott Dowell of the Gates Foundation – was a veteran of CDC's Ebola Response Unit, having contributed to more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks.

John WesselsAFP / Getty Images

"We know the response is tough," said Morrison, health expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Something more needs to happen here. … The security situation – the security risks – are real, but they are manageable. "

Ron Klain, the former "Ebola Tsar" during the 2014-2016 epidemic in West Africa, is also concerned about the lack of an American presence.

"The fact that the leading experts in our country, the CDC, have been relegated to the background by the White House shows their reluctance to put in place the right team and security partnerships that allow these talented men and women to do their part. work, "Klain told Vox.

John Wessels / AFP / Getty Images

"We fear a situation like Benghazi"

In February, the Trump administration announced deep cuts in the budgets of the CDC, the State Department and USAID. And because there was no sign that the billion dollar pot that Congress gave to USAID and CDC in 2015 to fight Ebola in Africa's West is reviving, this prompted these agencies to plan a withdrawal of 39 of the 49 foreign countries in which they worked.

Just one day after the outbreak of an Ebola outbreak in the DRC last spring, CNS chief of global health security, Rear Admiral Tim Ziemer, left the Trump administration in the US. part of a reorganization led by National Security Advisor, John Bolton. This means that the highest White House official who would lead a response to the pandemic is not there to coordinate his efforts.

The health safety team led by Ziemer has also been dismantled. (According to the CNS press service, the Ziemer team was "assigned to two different offices directly related to their missions.")

When asked why the administration might not want to send people to the DRC this time, especially since the US government is active in many active war zones Morrison proposed some ideas – some political, some ideological.

"There is a fear of being wrong and being fooled by Congress. There is fear of a Benghazi-like situation, that the Americans are targeted, "he said. "We are considering a change of power in the House of Representatives in 14 days." (In 2012, a group of Islamist militants attacked US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in the death of four Americans.)

The broader ideology of the Trump administration – prioritizing US interests and letting others run abroad – could also be a factor, Morrison said.

"I am convinced that the United States should direct the answer. we have an exceptional ability to lead and we will bring others with us, "said Morrison. "We are losing the game here and we are facing a much bigger epidemic. And if there is a much more serious epidemic and we are sidelined, we will be blamed. "

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