President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced an initial $5-million contribution to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to bolster a continental response to the escalating Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak.

Speaking during a high-level meeting of African Health Ministers, Ramaphosa said the funding was a demonstration of confidence in Africa CDC as the continent's premier public health agency, stressing the principle of "African solutions to African challenges”.

The outbreak, which is primarily affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, has already claimed more than 200 lives. According to the Africa CDC, it now ranks as the second-largest Ebola outbreak in history, surpassed only by the devastating West African epidemic of 2014.

Ramaphosa warned that the virus posed a severe risk of wider regional transmission owing to the complex socioeconomic realities on the ground. The affected areas were heavily impacted by intense population movements, active trade corridors, humanitarian pressures, porous borders, and localised insecurity factors that significantly complicated rapid containment.

To counter the expanding crisis, African leaders at the Kampala meeting aligned behind a comprehensive $319-million continental preparedness and response plan.

The strategy aims to control active transmission in infected nations while aggressively strengthening health systems in at least ten surrounding high-risk member States.

Crucially, African nations have already committed internal domestic funding to cover about 10% of the required budget.

"This demonstrates ownership and responsibility," Ramaphosa noted. "Africa is no longer waiting passively for others to act.”

The President also lauded the immediate mobilisation of prominent African business leaders including Aliko Dangote, Professor Benedict Oramah, Dr George Elombi, and Simon Tiemtoré who had stepped forward to provide financial and logistical backing. Ramaphosa stressed that their swift involvement underscored that health security was intrinsically tied to economic, developmental, and continental security.

Because there are currently no approved vaccines or therapeutics specifically targeting the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, the continent faces a steep scientific challenge.

However, Ramaphosa expressed strong optimism regarding collaborative efforts between the Africa CDC, the World Health Organization, and the interim medical countermeasures network.

Global health organisations, including GAVI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and UNITAID, are working at an accelerated pace to transition promising vaccine and therapeutic candidates into clinical trials.

"Africa cannot continue to face deadly epidemics without equitable access to diagnostics, vaccines, and treatments," Ramaphosa stated.

He called on international manufacturers and research institutions to accelerate genomic surveillance, expand regional laboratory capacities, and fast-track the deployment of safe medical countermeasures.

While emphasising self-reliance, Ramaphosa urged other African member States, financial institutions, and philanthropists to join the funding drive urgently. He also extended a call to the broader international community to stand with the continent in genuine partnership.

"The world is safer when Africa is safer," Ramaphosa stated. "Delayed support today will result in much higher human, social, and economic costs tomorrow."

Ultimately, the President noted that this health crisis served as a stark reminder that pandemic preparedness could begin after an emergency had already expanded. He urged long-term, sustainable investments in resilient national health systems, emergency operations centres, local pharmaceutical manufacturing, and community health workforces.

Expressing absolute trust in the continent's collective capacity, expertise, and leadership, Ramaphosa said “the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and all countries at risk must know that they are not alone. Africa stands with them".