[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 541 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 541

 Recognizing the severe threat that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa 
poses to populations, governments, and economies across Africa and, if 
  not properly contained, to regions across the globe, and expressing 
              support for those affected by this epidemic.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 10, 2014

   Mr. Coons (for himself, Mr. Flake, Mr. Menendez, and Mr. Durbin) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                          on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Recognizing the severe threat that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa 
poses to populations, governments, and economies across Africa and, if 
  not properly contained, to regions across the globe, and expressing 
              support for those affected by this epidemic.

Whereas Ebola hemorrhagic fever is an extremely infectious virus that causes 
        severe illness with a fatality rate that can well exceed 50 percent;
Whereas Ebola is spread through contact with blood, secretions, or other bodily 
        fluids of infected humans and animals and can have an incubation period 
        of up to 21 days;
Whereas the Ebola virus first appeared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
        in 1976 and has afflicted communities in Africa at least 20 times since 
        then;
Whereas the current Ebola outbreak first occurred in February 2014 in forested 
        areas of southeastern Guinea and subsequently spread to Liberia, Sierra 
        Leone, Nigeria, and Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo 
        recently discovered the outbreak of a separate strain of the virus;
Whereas this is the first outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and the biggest and 
        most complex to date, due to its emergence in populated, transient 
        border areas, making containment a significant challenge;
Whereas, to date, Ebola had infected more than 3,600 people in West Africa and 
        caused almost 2,000 deaths;
Whereas the current Ebola outbreak has occurred in countries with some of the 
        weakest health systems in the world facing severe shortages of 
        healthcare workers, laboratories essential for testing and diagnosis, 
        clinics and hospitals required for treatment, and medical supplies and 
        protective gear, such as latex gloves and face masks required to prevent 
        contamination of health facilities;
Whereas these weak and inadequate healthcare facilities, a lack of health staff 
        trained in Ebola response, and misconceptions about the virus have 
        resulted in numerous infections of health workers and patients unable to 
        receive appropriate response and care;
Whereas effective countermeasures for stemming the spread of Ebola, such as 
        isolation, meticulous infection control practices, case investigation, 
        and contact tracing require more trained personnel and resources than 
        are currently available in West Africa;
Whereas, although Ebola can be contained with good public health and burial 
        practices, it continues to spread due to a lack of accurate public 
        information, insufficient treatment facilities, limited local language 
        capacities required for health education, and an unwillingness to allow 
        those infected to be isolated from family members;
Whereas governments are collaborating closely with international donors and 
        taking strong measures to contain the virus, including announcing states 
        of emergency and establishing emergency response centers;
Whereas the limitations on transportation and travel and closing of businesses 
        have had a devastating economic impact throughout the region and may 
        cause social instability and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis if not 
        properly managed and offset;
Whereas the international community has committed to support solutions to the 
        current limitations on air traffic and establish a common operational 
        platform to address acute problems associated with food security, 
        protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, primary and secondary health 
        care, and education, as well as the longer-term recovery effort that 
        will be needed in the face of the complex social consequences of this 
        emergency;
Whereas the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda have 
        sent experts familiar with such outbreaks to Liberia to assist with the 
        outbreak response, and the Government of Ghana has agreed to serve as 
        the international community's logistics and coordination center and is 
        providing a vital corridor for supplies and personnel;
Whereas, after visiting affected communities in West Africa, Centers for Disease 
        Control and Prevention Director Tom Frieden said on September 2, 2014, 
        ``There is a window of opportunity to tamp this down, but that window is 
        closing . . . we need action now to scale up the response.'';
Whereas the United States Government has provided more than $101,400,000 in 
        support through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 
        United States Agency for International Development, the World Health 
        Organization, and the United States Armed Forces since February 2014;
Whereas the United States Government helped to fund the development of the Zmapp 
        biopharmaceutical experimental drug that was given to 2 United States 
        health workers afflicted with the virus and was recently donated to 3 
        Liberian doctors with encouraging effect and has prompted calls for 
        further research and development of such vaccines;
Whereas, on August 5, 2014, the United States Government deployed a multi-agency 
        Disaster Assistance Response Team composed of staff from Federal 
        agencies, including the United States Agency for International 
        Development, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the 
        Department of Defense, the Department of Health and Human Services, and 
        the Forest Service to coordinate the United States Government's response 
        efforts;
Whereas the World Health Organization published on August 28, 2014, a roadmap 
        for scaled-up response that aims to stop the virus in 6 to 9 months and 
        calls for 750 international and 12,000 local health workers to 
        contribute to the halt of the Ebola outbreak; and
Whereas, earlier this year, the United States Government joined with partner 
        governments, the World Health Organization, other multilateral 
        organizations, and nongovernmental actors to launch the Global Health 
        Security Agenda, a 5-year commitment to prevent, detect, and effectively 
        respond to infectious disease threats such as Ebola: Now, therefore, be 
        it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) recognizes the severe immediate threat that Ebola poses 
        to populations, governments, and economies in Africa;
            (2) recognizes that the limited capacity of the initial 
        outbreak countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia to 
        combat the epidemic has been exhausted and the potential threat 
        to regions beyond Africa if this, the largest of all Ebola 
        outbreaks, is not contained;
            (3) expresses support for those affected by this epidemic 
        and affirms its sympathy for victims of Ebola and their 
        families;
            (4) supports the Governments of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra 
        Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the 
        Congo for their ongoing efforts to combat the Ebola virus in 
        their countries and regionally;
            (5) urges citizens of affected countries to respect 
        preventative guidelines provided by their governments and 
        medical professionals from Africa and around the world in order 
        to stem the outbreak;
            (6) supports the work of the Centers for Disease Control 
        and Prevention, the United States Agency for International 
        Development, the Department of Defense, the Department of 
        Health and Human Services, the Department of State, the Forest 
        Service, and other United States Government agencies providing 
        technical, logistical, and material support to address the 
        Ebola crisis in West Africa;
            (7) encourages deepened United States and international 
        commitments to the global Ebola response;
            (8) welcomes the delivery of assistance and increased 
        engagement from donors such as the Economic Community of West 
        African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union, the World Bank, 
        the European Union, and the Government of Canada;
            (9) expresses support for the promotion of investments in 
        global health in order to ensure that governments can better 
        prevent and detect, contain, and eventually eliminate outbreaks 
        of disease while also providing other essential health 
        services;
            (10) supports the World Health Organization's Ebola 
        Response Roadmap and a common operational platform in response 
        to the crisis;
            (11) encourages the Governments of Guinea, Liberia, 
        Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone to work together and with 
        other nations and regional and subregional organizations to 
        establish institutional emergency response systems to more 
        effectively respond to this and future outbreaks of Ebola and 
        other highly infectious diseases;
            (12) welcomes proactive measures taken by governments in 
        West Africa to formulate national plans of action in response 
        to the crisis; and
            (13) recognizes the work of thousands of African, United 
        States, and international officials and volunteers on the 
        ground in West Africa, particularly healthcare workers, who are 
        working diligently and at great risk to help address this 
        multidimensional crisis, and encourages other healthcare 
        workers and logisticians to volunteer.
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