A court in Kenya on Friday suspended a U.S. plan to establish a quarantine facility for Americans exposed to a rare type of Ebola virus spreading in northeastern Congo, while health workers in northeastern Congo struggled with scant supplies to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a kind of Ebola that has no approved treatment or vaccine. The High Court in Nairobi put a stop to any deal on the Ebola facility until petitions against it are heard on Tuesday.
Who Pays for Decisions at the Top
The people facing the sharp end of this outbreak are in northeastern Congo, where health workers are trying to contain the Bundibugyo virus with scant supplies. The virus has no approved treatment or vaccine. Meanwhile, the machinery of state power is busy elsewhere: a U.S. administration official said on Wednesday that the U.S. was planning to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola while abroad to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them home. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to share the administration’s plans.
It was unclear where in Kenya the new facility will be built or whether the Kenyan government has signed off on the plan. The Kenyan government only revealed discussions with the U.S. on support for Ebola preparedness but did not address the facility. The U.S. government intends to commit $13.5 million toward Kenya’s Ebola preparedness efforts, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.
What People on the Ground Said
An organization formed to defend Kenya’s Constitution, Katiba Institute, and the Kenya Law Society separately challenged any presence of Ebola-related facilities. The Kenya Law Society asked the court to nullify any agreements signed between the U.S. and Kenya on the project, citing public health risks and a lack of public participation. It also said that Kenya lacks “the high-containment infrastructure required to safely manage such a facility, exposing the public to serious health risks.”
A Kenyan doctors’ union on Thursday issued a 48-hour strike notice should the country proceed with the deal. It said the U.S. was clear that they would not allow Ebola on their soil and therefore Kenya should not become another “dumping ground.” “As the vanguard of Kenya’s healthcare system, we are utterly disgusted by the government’s apparent willingness to trade national biosecurity and the lives of its citizens for foreign aid,” the union’s chairperson, Davji Atellah, said in a statement.
The Outbreak and the Borderless Logic of Containment
The Congolese government has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since it declared an outbreak on May 15. But the virus had been spreading undetected for weeks and the WHO suspects it is much larger than what has been reported. The virus also has reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.
The court order in Nairobi now freezes the U.S. plan until petitions against it are heard on Tuesday, leaving the proposed facility in legal limbo. The dispute lays bare a familiar hierarchy: those with the power to move people, money, and risk across borders are making plans, while health workers, doctors, and legal groups are left to contest the consequences after the fact.
The U.S. plan, the Kenyan government’s limited disclosure, and the $13.5 million commitment all sit alongside the warnings from the Kenya Law Society and the doctors’ union about public health risks and the absence of public participation. In the meantime, the outbreak continues in Congo, where the virus has no approved treatment or vaccine and where health workers are still trying to hold the line with scant supplies.