Meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs
This meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs will come to order.
Good morning.
We’re going to do things a little differently than usual today because of a rare honor for the Subcommittee. Joining us from the Liberian capital of Monrovia today by video conference is President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who will share with us her observations on the Ebola outbreak in her country.
President Sirleaf is an extraordinary individual who has already once pulled her country back from the brink of collapse after Liberia’s civil war. Her certainty of purpose coupled with a vigorous commitment to reconciliation and recovery make her the single best person to be leading Liberia through this difficult time.
President Sirleaf has shown extraordinary leadership for her country in this time of grave crisis, and continues to be an example for all of us in public service.
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize and Africa’s first elected female head of state, President Sirleaf is an individual of exemplary character, fortitude, and compassion for her people.
President Sirleaf has volunteered to answer a few questions from members after her remarks. It is a rare honor and an extraordinary opportunity to be joined by a sitting head of state — one for which I am certain my colleagues are enormously grateful.
We’ll begin first with a meeting of the subcommittee for our discussion with President Sirleaf, and then I’ll gavel in the hearing with our distinguished panelists.
President Sirleaf?
Hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs,
“The Ebola Epidemic: The Keys To Success For The International Response”
I’m now delighted to call this hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs — this final hearing of the subcommittee in the 113th Congress — to order.
Without objection, I request testimony from Save the Children and Catholic Relief Services be entered into the record. Additionally, I request that a statement from Chairman Menendez be entered into the record, without objection.
What we plan to focus on today are the factors that made it so easy for the Ebola virus to spread in West Africa, and so hard to contain. It’s by learning how we got here that we will be better able to prevent flare-ups and future outbreaks of Ebola and other highly infectious, deadly diseases, and reduce the likelihood that American intervention will again be necessary.
Ebola has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 men, women and children — that we know of — and infected nearly three times as many, mostly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, since the first cases were initially discovered in March.
The international community has been slow to respond to the outbreak, and we are still working to catch up, but the United States government has already invested more than $782 million in the Ebola response effort — that’s almost twice the amount of the next largest donor, the United Kingdom.
Our contributions are having a marked impact: U.S. support for the establishment of safe burial teams and ETUs has contributed to a significant decrease in the number of new cases arising on a weekly basis. Back in October, the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response set a “70-70-60” goal to isolate and treat 70 percent of suspected Ebola cases in West Africa and safely bury 70 percent of the dead in 60 days — by December 1. These goals have been met in the vast majority of areas, contributing to the decline in cases and rate of transmission.
Our work, however, is far from done.
Sierra Leone has seen a sharp rise in cases over the past month. On November 2, Sierra Leone had 4,759 cumulative cases. By November 30, the number had risen to 7312, meaning cases had increased by about roughly 638 cases a week. Cases continue to grow, and in recent days, the number of cases Sierra Leone surpassed that in Liberia, which had for months experienced the highest caseload.
As we heard from President Sirleaf, Liberia is still wrestling with this virus. Mali saw its first Ebola cases in October, and currently has 8 reported cases.
Ebola is a volatile virus that has the potential to flare up at a moment’s notice, and we need to be able to react as quickly as possible to contain it – or any other comparable global public health threat that may emerge. The relative weakness of health systems and public infrastructure in West Africa is largely what allowed Ebola to spread so easily in the first place, so as we work with our partners to stop the outbreak, we’re also trying to ensure it won’t happen again.
In order to do this, we need to have the resources available to deploy volunteers, construction workers, medevac planes, and shipments of medical supplies in a swift and timely response.
The U.S. government was the first international government institution to step in when the NGO community and the Guinea, Liberian, and Sierra Leonean governments told us they did not have the resources and capacity to contain this outbreak.
It is because the United States stepped in — and stepped in at the scale that we did — that progress has been made in stopping the spread of this terrible disease.
Stopping Ebola is not only a matter of national security, it is a matter of humanity. We cannot go back to the sidelines and watch these already impoverished and unstable countries fall apart when we have the resources to truly turn this crisis around.
That’s why I’m elated that the Appropriations leadership included $5.4 billion in emergency funding out of a $1.1 trillion budget for next year. These emergency funds are crucial for continuing to fight Ebola at the pace and scale necessary for controlling the outbreak and preventing future flare-ups.
The witnesses joining us today represent organizations that were fighting this outbreak long before Ebola was making headlines here in the U.S.
They have done heroic work for which every American should be grateful.
Before I turn it over to my friend and distinguished ranking member, I wanted to note what a pleasure it’s been to chair this subcommittee these last four years. I’ve had the honor of sharing this dais with two wonderful ranking members, Senator Isakson and Senator Flake, who care deeply and passionately about Africa.
Jeff, it’s been a true pleasure to work with you, and I look forward to our continued partnership as you assume the chairmanship next month.