The White House has released a fact sheet outlining the U.S. response to the Ebola epidemic.
Here are 15 things to know about the U.S. response.
1. The response strategy has four key goals: Controlling the epidemic at its source; mitigating residual effects of the epidemic, such as economic, social and political ramifications; engaging and coordinating with a broader global audience; and strengthening global health security in West Africa and worldwide.
2. To date, the government has dedicated more than $175 million in resources to addresses the crisis.
3. U.S. Africa Command will establish a command and control center in Monrovia, Liberia, to support U.S. military activities and coordinate global relief efforts. The effort will involve approximately 3,000 U.S. troops.
4. Engineers with U.S. Africa Command will build Ebola Treatment Units in affected areas. The U.S. government will help recruit and organize clinicians to staff the units.
5. U.S. Africa Command will train up to 500 healthcare providers each week at an established site.
6. The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps will deploy 65 Commissioned Core officers to Liberia to manage and staff a Department of Defense hospital for healthcare workers who have fallen ill.
7. USAID is supporting a Community Care Campaign providing communities with protection kits and information and training on how to protect themselves. The kits will first be distributed to the 400,000 most vulnerable households in Liberia and then to the rest of the country and region.
8. More than 100 personnel from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are in West Africa providing support functions, making it the largest international response in CDC history. The administration has requested $30 million in additional funding to send lab supplies and equipment and more CDC response workers to the area.
9. A Disaster Assistance Response Team went to West Africa in August to assess, identify and coordinate response to the needs of the community. The DART team includes members from USAID, CDC, DoD and the U.S. Forest Service. DART has airlifted 130,000 sets of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers and is working on acquiring generators to provide electricity to treatment units and other response facilities.
10. NIH is developing an investigational Ebola vaccine and is support efforts to develop other antivirals and therapeutics. The administration asked Congress for $58 million to support the development and manufacturing of such candidates.
11. The DoD requested to reprogram $500 million in fiscal year 2014's Overseas Contingency Operations funds for humanitarian assistance, including providing military air transportation of personnel and supplies, isolation units, personnel protective equipment, logistics and engineering support and sanitation and mortuary affairs experts.
12. USAID and the State Department will provide up to $10 million to help deploy an African Union mission to send more than 100 healthcare workers to the region.
13. To protect American borders, CDC is working with Customs and Border Protection and other ports of entry to identify travelers exhibiting signs of infectious disease and take the next precautionary steps. CDC is also helping with exit screening and communication efforts in West Africa to prevent sick travelers from boarding planes.
14. In the U.S., the CDC is working to bolster surveillance and laboratory testing capacity and capability to help detect potential cases. Additionally, the CDC is developing tools for health departments to conduct public health investigations. They have partnered with HHS to provide documents helping hospitals prepare for possible Ebola cases.
15. Looking to the future, the U.S. has committed to working with at least 30 other countries over the next five years to bolster the Global Health Security agenda and establish emergency operations centers, build information systems and strengthen lab security to deal with future biological threats.
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