III 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 541 

Recognizing the severe threat that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa poses 

to populations, governments, and economies across Africa and, if not 

properly contained, to regions across the globe, and expressing support 

for those affected by this epidemic. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014 

Mr. COONS (for himself, Mr. FLAKE, Mr. MENENDEZ, and Mr. DURBIN) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the severe threat that the Ebola outbreak in 

West Africa poses to populations, governments, and 

economies across Africa and, if not properly contained, 

to regions across the globe, and expressing support for 

those affected by this epidemic. 

Whereas Ebola hemorrhagic fever is an extremely infectious 

virus that causes severe illness with a fatality rate that 

can well exceed 50 percent; 

Whereas Ebola is spread through contact with blood, secretions, or other bodily fluids of infected humans and animals and can have an incubation period of up to 21 days; 


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•SRES 541 IS 

Whereas the Ebola virus first appeared in the Democratic 

Republic of the Congo in 1976 and has afflicted communities in Africa at least 20 times since then; 

Whereas the current Ebola outbreak first occurred in February 2014 in forested areas of southeastern Guinea and 

subsequently spread to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, 

and Senegal, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo 

recently discovered the outbreak of a separate strain of 

the virus; 

Whereas this is the first outbreak of Ebola in West Africa 

and the biggest and most complex to date, due to its 

emergence in populated, transient border areas, making 

containment a significant challenge; 

Whereas, to date, Ebola had infected more than 3,600 people 

in West Africa and caused almost 2,000 deaths; 

Whereas the current Ebola outbreak has occurred in countries with some of the weakest health systems in the 

world facing severe shortages of healthcare workers, laboratories essential for testing and diagnosis, clinics and 

hospitals required for treatment, and medical supplies 

and protective gear, such as latex gloves and face masks 

required to prevent contamination of health facilities; 

Whereas these weak and inadequate healthcare facilities, a 

lack of health staff trained in Ebola response, and misconceptions about the virus have resulted in numerous infections of health workers and patients unable to receive 

appropriate response and care; 

Whereas effective countermeasures for stemming the spread 

of Ebola, such as isolation, meticulous infection control 

practices, case investigation, and contact tracing require 


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more trained personnel and resources than are currently 

available in West Africa; 

Whereas, although Ebola can be contained with good public 

health and burial practices, it continues to spread due to 

a lack of accurate public information, insufficient treatment facilities, limited local language capacities required 

for health education, and an unwillingness to allow those 

infected to be isolated from family members; 

Whereas governments are collaborating closely with international donors and taking strong measures to contain 

the virus, including announcing states of emergency and 

establishing emergency response centers; 

Whereas the limitations on transportation and travel and 

closing of businesses have had a devastating economic 

impact throughout the region and may cause social instability and exacerbate the humanitarian crisis if not properly managed and offset; 

Whereas the international community has committed to support solutions to the current limitations on air traffic and 

establish a common operational platform to address acute 

problems associated with food security, protection, water, 

sanitation and hygiene, primary and secondary health 

care, and education, as well as the longer-term recovery 

effort that will be needed in the face of the complex social 

consequences of this emergency; 

Whereas the Governments of the Democratic Republic of the 

Congo and Uganda have sent experts familiar with such 

outbreaks to Liberia to assist with the outbreak response, 

and the Government of Ghana has agreed to serve as the 

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ter and is providing a vital corridor for supplies and personnel; 

Whereas, after visiting affected communities in West Africa, 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director 

Tom Frieden said on September 2, 2014, ‘‘There is a 

window of opportunity to tamp this down, but that window is closing . . . we need action now to scale up the 

response.’’; 

Whereas the United States Government has provided more 

than $101,400,000 in support through the Centers for 

Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for International Development, the World Health Organization, and the United States Armed Forces since 

February 2014; 

Whereas the United States Government helped to fund the 

development of the Zmapp biopharmaceutical experimental drug that was given to 2 United States health 

workers afflicted with the virus and was recently donated 

to 3 Liberian doctors with encouraging effect and has 

prompted calls for further research and development of 

such vaccines; 

Whereas, on August 5, 2014, the United States Government 

deployed a multi-agency Disaster Assistance Response 

Team composed of staff from Federal agencies, including 

the United States Agency for International Development, 

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense, the Department of Health and 

Human Services, and the Forest Service to coordinate 

the United States Government’s response efforts; 

Whereas the World Health Organization published on August 

28, 2014, a roadmap for scaled-up response that aims to 


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stop the virus in 6 to 9 months and calls for 750 international and 12,000 local health workers to contribute to 

the halt of the Ebola outbreak; and 

Whereas, earlier this year, the United States Government 

joined with partner governments, the World Health Organization, other multilateral organizations, and nongovernmental actors to launch the Global Health Security Agenda, a 5-year commitment to prevent, detect, and effectively respond to infectious disease threats such as Ebola: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) recognizes the severe immediate threat that 

3 Ebola poses to populations, governments, and econo4 mies in Africa; 

5 (2) recognizes that the limited capacity of the 

6 initial outbreak countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, 

7 and Liberia to combat the epidemic has been ex8 hausted and the potential threat to regions beyond 

9 Africa if this, the largest of all Ebola outbreaks, is 

10 not contained; 

11 (3) expresses support for those affected by this 

12 epidemic and affirms its sympathy for victims of 

13 Ebola and their families; 

14 (4) supports the Governments of Guinea, Libe15 ria, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, and the Demo16 cratic Republic of the Congo for their ongoing efVerDate Mar 15 2010 22:38 Sep 10, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\SR541.IS SR541

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1 forts to combat the Ebola virus in their countries 

2 and regionally; 

3 (5) urges citizens of affected countries to re4 spect preventative guidelines provided by their gov5 ernments and medical professionals from Africa and 

6 around the world in order to stem the outbreak; 

7 (6) supports the work of the Centers for Dis8 ease Control and Prevention, the United States 

9 Agency for International Development, the Depart10 ment of Defense, the Department of Health and 

11 Human Services, the Department of State, the For12 est Service, and other United States Government 

13 agencies providing technical, logistical, and material 

14 support to address the Ebola crisis in West Africa; 

15 (7) encourages deepened United States and 

16 international commitments to the global Ebola re17 sponse; 

18 (8) welcomes the delivery of assistance and in19 creased engagement from donors such as the Eco20 nomic Community of West African States 

21 (ECOWAS) and the African Union, the World 

22 Bank, the European Union, and the Government of 

23 Canada; 

24 (9) expresses support for the promotion of in25 vestments in global health in order to ensure that 


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1 governments can better prevent and detect, contain, 

2 and eventually eliminate outbreaks of disease while 

3 also providing other essential health services; 

4 (10) supports the World Health Organization’s 

5 Ebola Response Roadmap and a common operational 

6 platform in response to the crisis; 

7 (11) encourages the Governments of Guinea, 

8 Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone to work 

9 together and with other nations and regional and 

10 subregional organizations to establish institutional 

11 emergency response systems to more effectively re12 spond to this and future outbreaks of Ebola and 

13 other highly infectious diseases; 

14 (12) welcomes proactive measures taken by gov15 ernments in West Africa to formulate national plans 

16 of action in response to the crisis; and 

17 (13) recognizes the work of thousands of Afri18 can, United States, and international officials and 

19 volunteers on the ground in West Africa, particularly 

20 healthcare workers, who are working diligently and 

21 at great risk to help address this multidimensional 

22 crisis, and encourages other healthcare workers and 

23 logisticians to volunteer. 

Æ 


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