Target: Patrick Leahy, United States Senator for Vermont
Goal: Support continued funding for Ebola aid and other public health response efforts.
11,000 deaths, nearly 30,000 infections: these statistics could mark the beginning of nearly any big-budget global epidemic movie. Yet for the people of Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and other African regions, these numbers are a crushing reality. They represent lives lost or forever changed by Africa’s Ebola outbreak. Through extraordinary aid and funding efforts, public health advocates claimed a victory in containing the epidemic. A recent resurgence of the deadly disease, however, coincided with a proposed deletion in financial support for Ebola aid.
Powerful voices like those found in this ForceChange petition implored the Trump Administration to ensure funding for a cause that benefits not only Africa but the health of individuals worldwide. The World Health Organization lists Ebola – which can cause horrifying symptoms like body bleeding and severe dehydration and can kill up to half of those infected within weeks – as one of the primary viruses that could cause a worldwide epidemic. Despite these sobering realities, President Trump significantly slashed funding totaling 240 million dollars as part of his “budget authority.” At the same time the president was making his cuts to this and other healthcare and emergency response initiatives, a new outbreak of Ebola befell the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Following a vocal outcry from those on the front lines, public health experts, members of Congress, and everyday advocates, the Trump Administration earlier this month replenished the quarter of a billion dollars it had taken from the Ebola response funds of the International Disaster Assistance account.
Sign this petition to celebrate this important victory and to encourage the continuation of vital funding that impacts healthcare worldwide.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Senator Leahy,
Thank you for standing up for critical public health funding enacted nearly three years ago in response to one of the world’s most dangerous health threats. The restoration of Ebola response funding will ensure that the people of the DRC and any other impacted communities worldwide receive the vital aid and support these populations desperately need.
Please stay vigilant. Recent reports have identified other potential viral threats in other regions of the world. Entities like the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control will be vital allies in combating these dangers to our global health. We have confidence you will remain an empowering ally in protecting funding for public health and emergency response.
These disease know no partisan lines nor cultural divides. They are the world’s common enemy, and we should always stand united against them.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Centers for Disease Control
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