Ebola cases in Kenya highlight US failures amid Trump cuts to key services

A nurse works at Nairobi hospital. A Kenyan man fell ill in DR Congo before returning to Nairobi, where he later died. Photograph: Monicah Mwangi/ReutersView image in fullscreenA nurse works at Nairobi hospital.

Um homem queniano adoecia na República Democrática do Congo antes de retornar a Nairobi, onde posteriormente morreu. Fotografia: Monicah Mwangi/Reuters. Ebola. Casos de Ebola no Quênia destacam US failures em meio a cortes de Trump em serviços-chave.

Oposição ao centro de quarentena liderado pelos EUA no Quênia segue cortes de financiamento em larga escala e retirada da WHO.

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleAn eighth person in Kenya has tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the country’s first-ever cluster of cases of the virus, as the second-largest outbreak in history has killed more than 4,300 and sickened more than 9,000 people in the region.

It highlights the diminished role the US has played in the worsening Ebola outbreak by building a controversial quarantine center in Kenya, pulling back health support globally, and banning travelers from certain countries.

All of this has also reduced the ability to identify and respond to the outbreak and exacerbated mistrust.

O EUA criou um centro de quarentena controverso na base aérea Laikipia, no Quênia, onde americanos que retornam da República Democrática do Congo teriam que ficar em quarentena.

The center, opposed by locals, has stirred distrust in the Kenyan government, leading to protests and a Kenyan court ordering a halt to the center.

In the meantime, Kenyans were “very cautious around any information that is being given by the government around Ebola”, Maleche said.

Americans who questioned whether the US has the legal authority to quarantine Americans on foreign soil and prevent them from returning home are pushing back against the quarantine center as Kenya faces its first Ebola cases.

The US already has “world-class” Ebola treatment units, Nuzzo pointed out.

A inquietação segue cortes em larga escala no apoio à saúde dos EUA em todo o mundo, com a demolição da Agência dos Estados Unidos para o Desenvolvimento Internacional (USAID) e cortes no financiamento e na equipe de agências de saúde como os Centros de Controle e Prevenção de Doenças dos EUA (CDC).

On 1 October, the CDC closed HIV prevention offices in Angola and South Sudan, with plans to close offices in Zimbabwe. The US has slashed programs across the world – including DR Congo, where the Ebola outbreak is centered, and other countries, like Kenya, bracing for cases as the outbreak widens.

O EUA está agora negociando acordos bilaterais com cada país, incluindo o Quênia – um processo que tem sido envolto em segredo, disse Maleche. “Não está muito claro qual é o plano, quem está implementando e o que será envolvido.”.

Cuts to decades-long programs mean the affected countries and the US have less insight into what’s happening, in addition to a lessened ability to prevent and stop outbreaks.

The US officially left the World Health Organization (WHO) in January, making it much harder to collaborate on the response to crises like these. When the US left the WHO, it also “pulled out a substantial amount of funding”, said Maleche.

That means the WHO’s response had also been “weakened”, he said.

Um homem queniano adoeceu na DRC antes de viajar de carro para Uganda e, em seguida, voar para Nairobi em 3 de outubro, onde ele morreu em um hospital dois dias depois.

Desde então, sete contatos próximos testaram positivo.

Patrick Amoth, the director-general for health, confirmed on Sunday the total number of ‌infections in the country was eight.

Kenya’s ministry of health pointed to the success of contact tracing and quarantine. About 108 people have been quarantined in Nairobi.

Um médico francês que retornou da DR Congo em junho testou positivo, e vários americanos foram evacuados da DR Congo para a Europa para tratamento ou monitoramento do Ebola.

In Kenya, “the biggest fear is around how will other countries react” to the outbreak, with travel bans a particular worry, Maleche said. The US put travel bans in place from DR Congo and neighboring Uganda and South Sudan once the outbreak was detected in May, but it would be “very ironic” if the US instituted travel bans, given its quarantine center in Kenya, Maleche said.

Raphael Warnock, senador demócrata da Geórgia, e Bill Cassidy, senador republicano da Louisiana, escreveram uma carta em junho ao comitê de dotações do Senado, se oposto aos planos da administração Trump de reduzir a prevenção e o monitoramento do HIV.

Dismantling of USAID, withdrawing from the WHO, and abruptly cutting foreign aid cuts was “degrading our outbreak preparedness” and had “seriously weakened our ability to keep Americans safe from infectious disease”, Warnock said in a statement.

Nuzzo agreed. “It’s about having an understanding of the systems and the conditions in other countries, and eyes and ears in those countries to detect when something out of the ordinary happens, and to get that information as early as possible,” she said.

Isso beneficia os EUA e os próprios países, disse ela.

Work such as HIV prevention “can be repurposed”, she added. “You have connections with clinical care, the ability to move medicines, the ability to conduct laboratory tests, the ability to move specimens around – all of those capacities are things that you would use in other disease emergencies.”.