Ebola outbreak raises alarms about Trump's global health moves

Concerns extend beyond the Ebola outbreak, with worries that planned changes and cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention may not stop at Ebola. A planned overhaul of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief would reduce the CDC's role in the global HIV program. The Ebola outbreak, with nearly 600 suspected cases and 139 deaths, is increasing tensions between the U.S. and the World Health Organization. WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the response after U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticized WHO for being late in identifying the virus. WHO officials urged contact tracing and other public health measures instead of travel bans. Infectious disease experts said effective response requires more than protective equipment and isolation facilities, including building trust and changing burial practices to prevent superspreader events.

"They point to a planned overhaul of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief that would reduce the CDC's role in the global HIV program. They're also worried that the impact of those changes - along with cuts to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - might not end with the Ebola outbreak."

"WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus defended the Ebola response on Wednesday after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Tuesday that the global health organization was "a little late" identifying the virus. Tedros said the comments may have been due to a "lack of understanding" about how the WHO works, noting that the organization provides technical support to government health agencies that are responsible for disease tracking."

"WHO officials also said countries should focus on public health measures like contact tracing instead of travel bans like the U.S. imposed this week on non-citizens who have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days. Infectious disease experts say an effective response goes beyond shipping protective equipment and building isolation facilities."

"They say it's also important to build trust with stricken communities and convince residents to do things like changing burial practices to avoid superspreader events. "You need meticulous bread-and-butter public health," former CDC director Tom Frieden, who led the agency during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in Africa, said Wednesday during a MedPage Today webinar. "Every hour of delay allows the virus to get ahead of us.""

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