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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticised the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Tuesday, stating that the UN body was too slow in identifying a deadly new outbreak of Ebola.
While discussing the American response to the crisis, Rubio noted that while the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the WHO would lead efforts, the global health agency was unfortunately late to recognise the situation.
A senior State Department official later specified that it took the WHO 10 days to confirm the outbreak, arguing that the US could have been two weeks into its response instead of just four days.
The official also repeated past claims that the UN body had previously covered up the COVID-19 pandemic for China, a charge the WHO strongly denies.
The friction comes after President Donald Trump, upon returning to office last year, initiated a US withdrawal from the WHO and drastically cut foreign assistance, including dismantling the US Agency for International Development.
The funding cessation has forced the WHO to scale back operations, as the US had previously been its largest contributor, providing over $1 billion annually under the Biden administration.
Despite the cuts and the administration’s “America First” approach to aid, the State Department announced $13 million in initial funding to establish up to 50 Ebola treatment centres in the Democratic Republic of Congo or Uganda.
Deploying these resources will face major logistical hurdles. Rubio highlighted that the affected regions are highly isolated and located within a conflict zone.
Nonetheless, the State Department maintained that the US has an ironclad commitment to ensuring a rapid and fully resourced response alongside humanitarian partners.
The situation remains urgent, as the WHO itself expressed deep concern on Tuesday regarding the alarming speed and scale of this latest Ebola outbreak, which local authorities in the DR Congo report has already caused 136 suspected deaths.
