[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 701 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 701
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the current
outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia is an
international health crisis and is the largest and most widespread
outbreak of the disease ever recorded.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 31, 2014
Ms. Bass (for herself, Mrs. Davis of California, Mr. Cicilline, Mr.
Crowley, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Mr. Honda, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Lee
of California, Mr. Levin, Ms. McCollum, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Rush, Mr.
Wolf, Mr. Lewis, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Conyers,
Mr. Carson of Indiana, Mr. Clyburn, Mr. Ellison, Ms. Norton, Ms. Brown
of Florida, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Mr. Fattah, Mr. Al Green of
Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, Ms. Moore, Mr. Payne, Mr.
Rangel, Mr. Richmond, Mr. David Scott of Georgia, Ms. Sewell of
Alabama, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Ms. Kelly of Illinois, Ms. Clarke of
New York, Mrs. Christensen, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. Sires, Mr.
Connolly, Mr. Deutch, Mr. Engel, Ms. Gabbard, Mr. Keating, Mr.
Lowenthal, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Frankel of Florida, Mr.
Marino, Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, Mr. Chabot, Mr. Poe of Texas, Mr.
Rohrabacher, Mr. Salmon, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Kuster, Ms. Brownley of
California, Mrs. Negrete McLeod, and Mr. McDermott) submitted the
following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the current
outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia is an
international health crisis and is the largest and most widespread
outbreak of the disease ever recorded.
Whereas Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia are currently facing the largest and
most geographically widespread Ebola outbreak ever recorded;
Whereas as of July 23, 2014, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)
there are 1,201 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola in Guinea, Sierra
Leone, and Liberia resulting in 672 deaths;
Whereas on average, Ebola kills up to 90 percent of the people who contract the
disease and currently there is no specific approved treatment or vaccine
available to prevent the disease;
Whereas the current outbreak is the first major Ebola outbreak in West Africa
and is present in both urban and rural areas, many of the region's
health workers did not have experience or training to care for patients
with the disease or protect themselves from contraction;
Whereas the current Ebola outbreak has already crossed international borders,
such as the Liberian passenger who arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, with the
disease in late July and died there;
Whereas without containment of the disease and additional support from the
international community, the outbreak could become a greater regional
and global health threat;
Whereas Ebola is contagious and transmitted to humans through close contact with
bodily tissue, blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of
infected persons or animals;
Whereas treatment of Ebola requires immediate and prolonged isolation of
patients and vigilant observation of infection control protocols to
prevent further spread and contraction of the disease;
Whereas the Ministry of Health of Guinea, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation
of Sierra Leone, and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare of
Liberia are working with national and international partners to
investigate and respond to the outbreak but need additional support to
properly care for patients and control the outbreak;
Whereas Doctors Without Borders is currently the main international aid
organization treating people affected by the virus, and currently does
not have the capacity to treat all patients requiring their care;
Whereas United States support to foreign nations to prepare and respond to
disease outbreaks through coordination of several United States
Government agencies, including the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), the Department of State, and the Department of Defense;
Whereas since March 2014, the CDC has deployed over 40 experts at a cost of
$600,000 and currently has a 7-person team in Guinea, one staff person
in Sierra Leone, and a team of 9 in Liberia assisting the respective
Ministries of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) led
international response to this Ebola outbreak, and recently activated
CDC's Emergency Operations Center to support the response;
Whereas since the emergence of the current Ebola outbreak, USAID has provided
$750,000 to the WHO Global Outbreak and Response Network (GOARN) for
deployment of technical experts and $500,000 to WHO's Africa Regional
Office (AFRO) for operational and personnel support;
Whereas despite the significant work from the Ministry of Health of Guinea, the
Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone, and the Ministry of
Health and Social Welfare of Liberia and international support from the
United States Government, the WHO, Doctors Without Borders, and other
international partners more must be done to increase capacity,
knowledge, and experience to deal with the outbreak of Ebola in West
Africa which has severely hampered the ability of affected countries to
quickly detect and respond to the outbreak; and
Whereas there is a drastic need for additional resources, including
knowledgeable medical professionals and equipment to strengthen quality
of care and surveillance for case finding and contact tracing: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
(1) asserts that the current outbreak of Ebola in Guinea,
Sierra Leone, and Liberia is an international health crisis and
is the largest and most widespread outbreak of the disease ever
recorded;
(2) acknowledges the lifesaving work already done by the
Ministry of Health of Guinea, the Ministry of Health and
Sanitation of Sierra Leone, and the Ministry of Health and
Social Welfare of Liberia, the United States Government, the
World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, and other
international partners;
(3) calls on the international community and all nations to
immediately provide additional resources and services to
develop the capacity of affected nations to address current and
future public health crises;
(4) requests that the United States work in a coordinated
capacity to develop a unified global health security plan to
adequately respond to disease outbreaks globally and prioritize
global health security;
(5) calls upon the United States to work with international
health authorities to assist endemic nations in the development
and fielding of medical countermeasures (diagnostics, vaccines,
and therapeutics) to treat victims and those at risk of Ebola;
and
(6) urges the United States Government to prioritize the
elimination of Ebola as a public health threat.
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