New Analysis Examines the $1.9 Billion Committed By the U.S. Government for the International Ebola Response

A new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis finds government agencies so far report spending approximately $1.9 billion in funding to respond to the Ebola outbreak internationally. The majority of this spending was by USAID (49%), followed by the Department of Defense (33%), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (18%).

The U.S. government enacted $5.4 billion in emergency Ebola funding in December 2014, representing the largest effort by a single donor government to respond to the outbreak. More than two-thirds of the emergency funding ($3.7 billion) was specified for international response efforts, while 21 percent ($1.1 billion) was for domestic purposes, and 10 percent ($515 million) was for research and development.

Congress made most of the emergency funding package available for at least a five year period or until it is spent. Spending reports to date indicate a significant amount remains for ongoing and future activities. Currently, only limited information is publicly available as to the specific activities funded through the spending package, and status of funding from departments and agencies working on domestic and research and development activities is limited.

The goals for the emergency Ebola funding were to fortify domestic public health systems, contain the epidemic in West Africa, speed the development of vaccines, and improve countries' ability to detect, prevent, and respond to future disease outbreaks.

The findings from The U.S. Response to Ebola: Status of the FY2015 Emergency Ebloa Appropriation will be discussed today at a public briefing held by the Kaiser Family Foundation in Washington, D.C. The event will be recorded and made available on Kaiser's website. 

Filling the need for trusted information on national health issues, the Kaiser Family Foundation is a nonprofit organization based in Menlo Park, California.