The Ebola Epidemic

To date, the Ebola outbreak in three West African countries and several others has claimed the lives of more than 6,000 men, women and children that we know of, and has infected nearly three times that many, mostly in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, and has claimed the lives of 330 health workers. It is often unsung, unheralded men and women who took to this challenge on the ground. The international community was slow to respond to the outbreak and is still working to catch up, but the U.S. Government has already invested more than $780 million in the Ebola response effort, nearly twice the amount of the next largest donor, and the leadership of President Obama has ensured that members of our Armed Forces and the United States Uniform Public Health Service have been deployed and made available.