HIGHLIGHTS
On September 16, U.S. President Barack H. Obama announced the creation of a Joint Force Command headquartered in Monrovia, Liberia to provide regional command and control support for the U.S. military response to EVD.
The EVD caseload continues to increase rapidly, with more than more than 2,340 cases identified in the past 21 days.
USAID/OFDA contributed $5.7 million in additional support for EVD response activities in Sierra Leone and Liberia.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS
The U.S. Government (USG) has launched a whole-of-government response to the EVD outbreak in West Africa, including increased involvement from the U.S. military. On September 16, President Obama announced that an estimated 3,000 U.S. troops plan to deploy to provide logistics support, construct EVD treatment units (ETUs), and train health care workers. Additionally, the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps plans to deploy health care workers to West Africa.
On September 16, the U.N. released an EVD Outbreak Overview of Needs and Requirements document that highlights nearly $1 billion worth of activities required to meet the needs of an estimated 22 million people affected by the EVD outbreak in West Africa. In addition to financial support, the six-month plan also requests foreign medical teams, support for medical evacuations, personnel, relief commodities, an air bridge, and political support and engagement. The new plan is a ten-fold increase from the $100 million EVD response plan unveiled by the U.N. in early August.
On September 14, USAID/OFDA provided $3.5 million to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) to procure personal protective equipment (PPE) and support a 60-bed ETU in Sierra Leone.
On September 17, USAID/OFDA provided an additional $2.2 million to the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to support household-level protection in Liberia.
