France will intensify its support for the efforts to eradicate Ebola in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, said Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot on Saturday (the 3rd), during a visit to a region hit by the virus, warning that it could resurge rapidly if surveillance were to drop.
Barrot made a rare visit for a Western leader to the city of Bunia, in northeastern Congo, where a laboratory-confirmed mpox case was identified in mid-September.
France allocated €13.4 million ($15.1 million) to the fight against Ebola between January and July.
Barrot said he would propose additional humanitarian funding for Ebola during the upcoming discussions on the French budget.
‘Ebola may seem distant to some people or political leaders, but it can return very quickly. Our responsibility is to prevent these outbreaks,’ Barrot told reporters in Bunia.
Barrot praised the Congolese authorities, the UN agencies, humanitarian organizations and health professionals for containing the outbreak and preventing it from spreading to the main urban centers of Congo and beyond.
(Reporting by John Irish)
