World Relief responds to Ebola outbreak, US commits $13M

As a deadly Ebola outbreak spreads through the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, faith-based aid organization World Relief is mobilizing emergency resources to Central Africa while the United States rolls out foreign assistance and new travel restrictions aimed at containing the crisis.

In a statement Monday, the Evangelical charity organization World Relief detailed its response to the growing Ebola outbreak, which, according to the World Health Organization, had become a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by Sunday. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported in its latest update that 134 people have died in the outbreak so far.

The outbreak has also prompted new travel restrictions in the U.S. On Monday, the CDC issued an order restricting entry for travelers arriving from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan for 30 days. The restrictions apply to anyone who has been in one of the affected countries within the previous 21 days, although exemptions exist for U.S. citizens, lawful permanent residents, members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their immediate family members. The agency added that additional exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Under the Public Health Services Act, the U.S. government has the authority to restrict entry into the country during public health emergencies. Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has committed$13 million in foreign aid as World Relief works to raise $125,000 for its initial emergency response efforts.

The outbreak has already affected missionaries serving in the region. Dr. Peter Stafford, an American missionary, was evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo after testing positive for Ebola.

The CDC describes Ebola as “a severe and often fatal illness” with symptoms including “fever, weakness, vomiting, diarrhea, and, in severe cases, hemorrhagic complications and organ failure.” Symptoms generally appear within four to 10 days after exposure. According to the CDC, “The disease spreads through direct contact with infected bodily fluids or contaminated materials.”

World Relief said its response efforts include distributing “health-related cautionary messaging” and training “community health workers to prevent and handle Ebola cases.”

Senior Vice President of International Programs, Lanre Williams-Ayedun, provided additional details about the organization’s work in an interview with The Christian Post.

Williams-Ayedun explained that while the World Health Organization, Africa CDC and the DRC’s Ministry of Public Health are responsible for developing official messaging, World Relief and other nongovernmental organizations help adapt the information for local communities.

World Relief Senior Vice President of International Programs Lanre Williams-Ayedun provided additional information about the organization’s relief efforts in an interview with The Christian Post. 

Williams-Ayedun explained that while the World Health Organization, Africa CDC and the DRC’s Ministry of Public Health are responsible for developing official messaging, World Relief and other nongovernmental organizations help adapt the information for local communities.

“We’re taking those messages and helping to make them more accessible to community-level folks,” Williams-Ayedun told CP.

She cited the use of “facilitating flip charts” designed for low-literacy populations, along with radio broadcasts and community theater programs aimed at educating residents about Ebola prevention and treatment.

“In previous Ebola outbreaks, we’ve seen the use of posters, flip charts, radio, TV, all the different mechanisms and all the different channels that we would choose so that people can understand what the risks are, understand what the critical prevention behaviors are that they can take and to understand what the health-seeking behavior needs to be and the protocols for health-seeking in a safe way,” she added.

Williams-Ayedun also noted that the strain driving the current outbreak differs from the Ebola strain that spread through Africa in 2018 because there is no vaccine available for it. She warned that vaccines developed for the earlier strain will likely not provide protection against the current virus.

“Prevention is the critical thing, trying to prevent people from contracting this disease,” Williams-Ayedun said.

She added that churches will remain central to the organization’s outreach strategy.

“We are looking at partnering with churches because we know that when it is critical to get sensitive information, particularly about health or about behavior, it’s good to partner with trusted local entities,” she concluded. “And so we’ve always worked with churches in our programming and this is another way that we want to partner with churches and trusted community leaders to make sure that the messages are ... accessible to the communities that we work and that people understand how they can protect themselves.”