The head of Africa\u2019s leading healthcare body hailed homegrown efforts to tackle the fast-spreading Ebola outbreak, which comes in the wake of Western aid cuts on the continent.<\/p>\n
At least 247 people have died in the outbreak, and while it is so far concentrated in central Africa, Brazil is monitoring two patients with symptoms<\/a>. Health systems in Africa are stretched, Jean Kaseya, the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, wrote in the Financial Times, but African leadership is driving the response: \u201cAfrica\u2019s health security must be built first on African soil.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n The outbreak is straining hard-hit communities in DR Congo: Border closures are hampering local commerce<\/a>, compounding fuel price hikes caused by the Middle East war in a region already wracked by armed conflict. And fears of a broader economic impact are mounting; the World Bank estimated $2.2 billion in lost GDP<\/a> from the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Healthcare workers are racing to develop a vaccine to fight the current strain, but experts warn it could take up to nine months.<\/p>\n