As Ebola spreads in West Africa, Canada’s role in question

Four years ago in West Africa, during the biggest Ebola outbreak the world had seen, Canada was considered a leader in the global fight against the deadly virus, with a Canadiandeveloped vaccine considered a game-changer. Today Canada is largely on the sidelines — even being called out internationally for it — as a new deadly epidemic spreads across the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond.

Where is Canada this time around?

The answer, like the epidemic that has infected more than 2,500 people in the conflictridden DRC, is complex.

The vaccine originally developed in Canada, now produced by Merck, is being used in the DRC, although it has not stopped the spread of the disease.

Canada has deployed emergency management specialists to work on the outbreak with the World Health Organization in neighbouring Congo. It has also provided $4.75 million in humanitarian aid to the UN, The Red Cross and Red Crescent and other NGOs working on the ground in the DRC.

Canada has contributed $4 million to the World Health Organization’s contingency fund for emergencies since 2015.

It has also offered direct technical help to the DRC but has been turned down, according to a Canadian scientist.

Still, observers say the overall global response to the outbreak that began on Aug. 1, 2018, has been disappointing and countries including Canada have not met financial commitments, which is slowing the response. Last month, former UK development minister Rory Stewart singled out Canada as a G7 country that needs to pull its weight in the fight against Ebola. He told BBC radio that he would be asking Canada to make more generous contributions.

A spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada did not respond directly to questions about whether Canada is doing enough, but said the government is closely monitoring the situation and is committed to working with partners “to support global public health.”

With the Ebola outbreak now declared a public health emergency, observers say it is past time for Canada and other countries to do more.

“The world was way too slow in responding to this outbreak,” said Steven Hoffman, scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) Institute of Population and Pubic Health. “We can’t respond to everything with lightning speed, but it has been many months since it has been known that this is a very serious public health emergency.”

That could soon change, said Gary Kobinger, one of the Canadian scientists who helped design a vaccine against Ebola.

And Kobinger, who is based at the Centre for Research in Infectious Diseases at Laval University in Quebec City, said the recent resignation of the health minister in the DRC could set the stage for other changes in the outbreak response.

The declaration earlier this month that the outbreak is a public health emergency has brought more focus — and money — to the fight. The World Bank announced $300 million to fight the epidemic soon after it was declared a health emergency. There is no word on whether Canada will increase its contribution.

Kobinger said he believes it is time to change the approach to fighting the outbreak, which has been hampered by ongoing conflict and mistrust.

He believes the Ebola vaccine should have been used to vaccinate everyone in a region when the outbreak began. Instead, health officials have employed the so-call ring-vaccine technique — tracing contacts and vaccinating everyone in a “ring” around the person infected with Ebola. The vaccine has saved lives — especially among health workers — but the technique is not working to stop the outbreak from spreading, he said. Kobinger said it is too late now to vaccinate everyone, given the amount of vaccine available and the number of people involved.