Poll Finds 75 Percent of Americans Back Restoring Disease Prevention Aid

A survey of more than 2,000 U.S. adults found that 75 percent support restoring U.S. disease prevention aid to address an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The same poll showed 90 percent favor funding overseas disease prevention programs and 72 percent back restoring some or all global health funding.

Background on the outbreak The outbreak, declared in mid-May, has produced 1,561 confirmed cases and 506 deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to officials there. The death toll has surpassed 500, and additional cases are believed to have gone undetected.

Officials have described the situation as still in an expansion phase. Africa’s Centres for Disease Control has warned that ten other countries could be at risk, and modeling published in the Lancet Infectious Diseases projected spread to South Sudan within weeks.

Cuts to foreign aid programs The U.S.

Agency for International Development closed in July last year, with most operations ended and a small remainder absorbed into the State Department. The survey noted that support for restoring aid crossed party lines, with 52 percent of respondents identifying as supporters of the current administration.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo faces one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with one million people seeking refuge abroad and 21 million in urgent need of aid.