On May 8, the minister of public health for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Oly Ilunga Kalenga, announced that the Ebola virus had broken out in his country's northern region, along the Congo River, setting in motion a rapid World Health Organization response. Ten days later, in a press conference at its Geneva headquarters, WHO concluded that the world's efforts were already paying off and there was no need to formally declare a public health emergency of international concern, which would have activated the entire United Nations system. And history was made on Monday as the first person was immunized with a still experimental vaccine and for the first time as experts set out to stop an Ebola outbreak by vaccinating hundreds of people.
It's heartening that so much has been achieved in so short a time — and startling that it all happened without leadership from the United States. The country is missing in action from this outbreak, with only a handful of Americans on the ground and no special funding from the Trump administration. That's of a piece with how the U.S. government is increasingly withdrawing from global health efforts writ large. And the world has noticed. The governance of international health is already being organized in a manner less dependent on Americans — and less influenced by Washington.
