A bipartisan pair of senators, Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), have urged Secretary of State Marco Rubio to release $608 million in congressionally approved international family planning funds and distribute $1.7 million in already purchased family planning supplies to assist women and infants impacted by the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

In a letter sent on Thursday, the senators expressed concern that the supplies—which reportedly include condoms, hormonal contraception, post-rape care medicine, and hemorrhage medicines—are currently stored in Geel, Belgium, and may be destroyed if not used.

"Ebola during pregnancy is catastrophic, with a nearly 100 percent fetal loss rate and catastrophic maternal mortality risk due to severe hemorrhaging," the lawmakers wrote. They emphasized that providing women with voluntary family planning options and access to clinics could prevent further deaths of women and fetuses exposed to the virus.

The senators also requested the State Department to consider a "humanitarian exemption" to support the UN Population Fund and restart reproductive health programming in the affected region.

This Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain, has been exacerbated by a humanitarian crisis in the DRC. As of July 29, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 3,532 Ebola cases and 1,556 deaths, reflecting a mortality rate of roughly 44%. The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention noted the outbreak has killed over 1,000 people since it began in May.

The CDC is coordinating the safe withdrawal of at least six Americans exposed to the outbreak after the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency.

The senators highlighted the urgency of the situation, stating that "investment now in voluntary family planning is fiscally rational in addition to being morally urgent" and that the crisis "leaves no time for delay in providing all possible interventions to save lives." The cost of the United States' response to the outbreak is approaching $1 billion.

Sources