The Trump administration has cancelled at least four of the five contracts with organisations that helped manage the Ebola outbreak in Uganda – which had appeared to be in retreat, but which has now claimed a new victim: a four-year-old boy who died on Monday.
The news was relayed in a State Department cable seen by The New York Times.
The US had also placed the manager of the Ebola response at USAID on administrative leave.
Uganda’s Ministry of Health informed US officials of the death on Thursday. While the confirmed case has not yet been announced by the Ugandan Government nor the World Health Organisation, federal officials involved in the response alerted the White House that night.
“Continued support from the terminated awards is not only vital to save lives but also vital in protecting the health and security of the United States and global community,” William W Popp, US ambassador to Uganda, wrote in the cable.
Uganda has experienced a serious Ebola outbreak since January that had appeared to be receding. The new case brings the total number of cases to 10, including two deaths. The first known fatality, a 32-year-old nurse, was reported in late January.
The boy’s family had sought care for him at three different hospitals, and he died at the third, Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala. His three siblings were reportedly ill but have recovered, according to the child’s father.
The boy’s mother and her newborn infant died of unknown causes in January, the cable said.
The death of the child is an indication that the virus is still circulating, and the country has returned to a more active response, according to the cable. Officials in Uganda have begun investigating the death, tracing the child’s contacts and sequencing the virus.
USAID was heavily involved in the Ebola response in the country, but in recent weeks the Trump administration has hobbled its operations, cutting the number of people involved in outbreaks from more than 50 to just six.
Although USAID is not the only supporter of the outbreak response, it has been an important one. For example, the federal Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response may provide treatments, and USAID may purchase the filter pumps that deliver the treatment.
The terminated contracts funded Ebola screening at Ugandan airports and protective equipment for health workers, and helped prevent transmission by survivors of the disease, according to a former agency official who asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation.
At the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, screening was on pause for more than two weeks because of the freeze on foreign aid, according to the official. The group that was doing it, the International Organisation for Migration, decided a few days ago to resume work with its own funds. Its contract was terminated on Wednesday night.
The first Ebola patient in the current outbreak had gone to six facilities before he died, prompting the Ugandan government to ask the United States for protective gear for health workers.
USAID stockpiles such gear at a warehouse in Nairobi, Kenya. But its employees have been barred from communicating with the WHO, which managed the facility.
Officials at USAID eventually paid about $100 000 to procure the protective equipment elsewhere, but the contract with that provider, too, has been cancelled.
US officials involved in attempts to contain the Ebola outbreak are trying to restore the contracts, noting that the work is crucial to prevent the disease from spreading to other countries, including the United States.
“Cessation of partners’ activities pose a grave risk to Uganda’s ability to effectively respond and contain the virus,” the cable said.
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Uganda Ebola-free after beating outbreak
Ebola outbreak in Uganda under control