Ebola reaches Nigeria: Europe cannot protect its citizens by cutting global health

The facts

The Ebola epidemic that broke out in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the spring is no longer a Congolese crisis. Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, announced its first case in Abuja on Tuesday, October 20. According to an AFP dispatch carried by Médias24, the patient is a woman who recently arrived on an international flight from Uganda and was treated for several days in a private hospital in the capital before being diagnosed. According to Al Jazeera, her first symptoms date back to October 7 and she was admitted on October 11. Nigeria's health minister, Muhammad Ali Pate, says 44 close contacts have been identified, and teams are also tracing health workers, other patients and passengers on the flight.

In Kenya, the authorities have recorded nine cases, all linked to a single family cluster according to the director general of health, Patrick Amoth, quoted by Al Jazeera.

In the DRC, the toll remains staggering. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the country had 9,552 confirmed cases, including 4,602 deaths, as of October 18. The epidemic affects 66 of 178 health zones across eight provinces. The ECDC describes it as the second-largest Ebola epidemic on record, according to Al Jazeera. It is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is no licensed vaccine or specific treatment, with a clinical trial under way according to AFP.

Faced with this spread, the African Union's health agency, Africa CDC, announced on Wednesday, October 21 a virtual meeting of African health ministers, scheduled for October 28. It is to prepare a summit of heads of state and government, chaired by Burundi, which currently leads the African Union.

Ebola is crossing borders. — Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC

The positions at stake

Nigeria is striking a reassuring tone. Its minister recalls, according to AFP, that the country succeeded in containing Ebola in 2014, and is calling for calm. Kenya, for its part, has imposed no restrictions on travel, trade or gatherings, according to Al Jazeera. Africa CDC stresses African expertise but is calling, according to AFP, for immediate funding, medical supplies and stronger community surveillance.

In Europe, the official message is one of restraint. The ECDC rates the risk of the virus being imported into the Union as "very low". It nevertheless points out that sporadic cases cannot be ruled out: it counts four that have reached Europe since May, including a humanitarian doctor in France, reported on June 24 by the Ministry of Health, and a health worker hospitalised in the Netherlands in early October.

In Paris, the debate is about money. The 2027 draft budget once again cuts official development assistance. According to a joint statement by ONE, Sidaction, Médecins sans frontières, Action Santé Mondiale and Amref, the budget mission devoted to this aid has reportedly fallen from 6.5 to 3.2 billion euros in three years, and France's contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has reportedly dropped by 60%. The government stands by a choice of fiscal discipline at a time of high debt. The minister for international partnerships, Éléonore Caroit, defends a "strategic reorientation", according to an article published by Boursorama, with the aim of better serving "the interests of the French in the broad sense".

The analysis

The budgetary argument deserves to be taken seriously. France must put its public finances in order, and no one can claim that every euro of aid is well spent. The direct risk to Europeans remains low, and giving in to fear would be irresponsible.

But the Bundibugyo epidemic shows the limits of this reasoning. A virus with no vaccine, now circulating in Central, East and West Africa, is not contained at Europe's borders: it is contained in treatment centres in Ituri, North Kivu or Abuja, thanks to health workers who are paid, protected and equipped. Most of the cases that reached Europe involved health workers or humanitarians, according to ECDC data. In other words, our security depends on those who work there.

There is a French tradition to rediscover here. Jacques Chirac made global health an instrument of influence and solidarity, championing the airline ticket tax to fund access to medicines. The signatory NGOs are calling precisely for this tax to be earmarked once again for international solidarity, an allocation they say was abolished in 2025. Serving "the interests of the French" also means preventing an epidemic with more than 4,600 deaths from becoming a continental crisis, with its paralysed economies and political tensions.

The moment is all the more delicate because international health aid is already under strain: franceinfo has reported that the fight against Ebola in the DRC was suffering from cuts in international aid. If Europe also pulls back, it risks leaving a vacuum that other powers could fill, at the expense of its influence in Africa.

Conclusion

The African Union meets on October 28. France and the European Union could arrive with a concrete proposal: emergency funding targeted at protecting health workers and at vaccine research against Bundibugyo, shielded from this year's budget trade-offs. The question is simple: can we still afford to save money on what protects us all?

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence.