Hours after Wednesday, members of the Council of Ministers Elon Musk, that efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic in Uganda had been “accidentally canceled very soon”, Trump’s administration finished at least four of the five Ebola -related work contracts in that country.
The four canceled contracts were a small fraction of 10,000 contracts and grants to the International Development and the United States Foreign Ministry that ended by Trump’s administration on Wednesday.
But it was important: since January, Uganda has experienced a serious Ebola epidemic, from which the country is just emerging. The contracts financed Ebola’s control at airports and protective equipment for health workers and helped prevent transmission by survivors, according to a former USAID employee.
Mr Musk told the members of the Council of Ministers that the administration had “immediately restored Ebola’s prevention and there was no interruption”. But his statement was inaccurate, according to two former USAID officials with knowledge of the situation in Uganda. (Officials asked to remain anonymous about the fear of retaliation.)
Theoretically, exemptions have allowed some work to continue or contains pathogens such as Ebola, Marburg and MPox, as well as the preparedness for bird flu. But very little money had really been delivered.
Few organizations that provide these services had the financial reserves to continue and even fewer reliable that they will be returned.
Their fears may have been justified. On Wednesday night, Supreme Court’s leader John G. Roberts Jr. ruled that USAID and the Foreign Ministry did not have to pay immediately for more than $ 1.5 billion for work already completed.
The ongoing work without these payments is interrupted, contrary to Mr Musk’s claim.
At the airport in ENTEBBE, Uganda, the promotion for Ebola was on a pause for more than two weeks, according to a former USAID employee with knowledge of the situation. The organization that did so decided a few days ago to continue work with its own funds.
The team’s contract ended on Wednesday night.
The White House refused to clarify Mr Musk’s comments and direct the investigations to man himself. Mr Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comments.
There were other gaps. The first ebola patient in the current epidemic had gone to six facilities before he died and was diagnosed, urging the Uganda government to seek protective tools for exposed health workers.
USAID Stockpiles such tools in a warehouse in Nairobi. However, the installation is managed by the World Health Organization and USAID employees are not allowed to communicate with WHO, let alone pay it to release the tools.
After more than a week, awaiting permission to contact WHO, officials were abruptly ordered to find another solution. They finally paid about $ 100,000 to obtain the protective equipment elsewhere.
“So much for financial efficiency,” said a former official with knowledge of the facts. The contract with the alternative provider is now over.
Even the resignation process was full of confusion. Trump’s administration requested details of how many lives each intervention would save and USAID staff struggled to connect small resources such as hand disinfectant or risk communication messages to a certain number of lives preserved.
The cleaning of staff in USAID has left a few people in place. The organization had more than 50 people dedicated to the responses of the epidemics, the result of a Congress’s push to strengthen the readiness pandemic.
This number was first cut half, including some by the Core Ebola team, and then on Sunday in just six. Those who shot included the organization’s leading expert in Lab Diagnostics and Ebola’s response manager.
“I have no idea how six people are going to carry out four answers to the fireplace,” said a left -wing employee. “It’s complicated in the best moments you are fully staffed.”
