Heinrich, Luján press Rubio over Ebola, hantavirus preparedness
U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján are pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio over Ebola and hantavirus preparedness after foreign aid cuts and the U.S. withdrawal from WHO.
The New Mexico senators say foreign aid cuts and the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization have weakened outbreak surveillance.
Organ Mountain News report
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Luján are pressing Secretary of State Marco Rubio over what they say are weakened disease-surveillance systems after foreign aid cuts and the U.S. withdrawal from the World Health Organization.
The New Mexico Democrats joined a Senate letter raising concerns about Ebola and hantavirus outbreaks and warning that the Trump administration’s actions have undermined the country’s ability to detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases.
“The dismantling of the United States Agency for International Development, the withdrawal from key international organizations such as the WHO, and the abrupt foreign aid cuts have had the combined effect of degrading our outbreak preparedness and seriously weakening the systems we rely upon to keep Americans safe from infectious disease,” the senators wrote.
The letter says the administration’s withdrawal of global health funding that previously supported outbreak detection and surveillance in parts of Africa has weakened international disease-monitoring infrastructure.
The senators pointed to the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, saying health officials believe it may have circulated undetected for six to eight weeks before laboratory confirmation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo near the Ugandan border.
They also cited a hantavirus outbreak in Argentina after that country announced plans to withdraw from the WHO following the U.S. withdrawal.
Organ Mountain News
The letter says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously worked with WHO to support disease surveillance, laboratory testing and transmission monitoring during major outbreaks. The senators said those systems were weakened after the U.S. withdrawal from WHO.
“Recent reductions in public health preparedness capacity here at home have also weakened our ability to rapidly detect and respond to emerging infectious disease threats,” the senators wrote.
The letter was led by U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Patty Murray, D-Wash.; and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. Heinrich and Luján joined more than two dozen other senators in signing it.
The senators urged the administration to assess decisions they say weakened outbreak preparedness and reverse policies they argue have left the United States and international community less prepared to respond to future outbreaks.
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