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, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. 

CORKER, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. HEINRICH, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. REED, Mr. 

BOOKER, Mr. LEAHY, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. CASEY, Mr. 

CARDIN, Mr. CARPER, Ms. CANTWELL, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. LANDRIEU, 

Mr. RUBIO, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) submitted the following resolution; 

which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Reported by Mr. MENENDEZ, with an amendment to the preamble 

[Strike the preamble and insert the part printed in italic] 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014 

Considered and agreed to with an amended preamble 

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. 


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•SRES 541 ATS 

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; 

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, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ebola had infected more than 4,400 

people in West Africa and caused nearly 2,300 confirmed 

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; 


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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 

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 


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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 Governments of Senegal and Ghana have agreed 

to serve as logistics and coordination centers for the 

international assistance effort, providing vital corridors 

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 $175,000,000 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 and intends to mobilize additional resources and support as announced by President Obama 

on September 16, 2014; 

Whereas the United States Government helped to fund the 

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

workers afflicted with the virus and was recently donated 

to Liberian doctors with encouraging effect and has 

prompted calls for further research and development of 

such vaccines; 


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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 

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 


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

2 not contained; 

3 (3) expresses support for those affected by this 

4 epidemic and affirms its sympathy for victims of 

5 Ebola and their families; 

6 (4) supports the Governments of Guinea, Libe7 ria, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Senegal, and the Demo8 cratic Republic of the Congo for their ongoing ef9 forts to combat the Ebola virus in their countries 

10 and regionally; 

11 (5) urges citizens of affected countries to re12 spect preventative guidelines provided by their gov13 ernments and medical professionals from Africa and 

14 around the world in order to stem the outbreak; 

15 (6) supports the work of the Centers for Dis16 ease Control and Prevention, the United States 

17 Agency for International Development, the Depart18 ment of Defense, the Department of Health and 

19 Human Services, the Department of State, the For20 est Service, and other United States Government 

21 agencies providing technical, logistical, and material 

22 support to address the Ebola crisis in West Africa; 

23 (7) encourages deepened United States and 

24 international commitments to the global Ebola re25 sponse; 


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1 (8) welcomes the delivery of assistance and in2 creased engagement from donors such as the Eco3 nomic Community of West African States 

4 (ECOWAS) and the African Union, the World 

5 Bank, the European Union, and the Government of 

6 Canada; 

7 (9) expresses support for the promotion of in8 vestments in global health in order to ensure that 

9 governments can better prevent and detect, contain, 

10 and eventually eliminate outbreaks of disease while 

11 also providing other essential health services; 

12 (10) supports the World Health Organization’s 

13 Ebola Response Roadmap and a common operational 

14 platform in response to the crisis; 

15 (11) encourages the Governments of Guinea, 

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

17 together and with other nations and regional and 

18 subregional organizations to establish institutional 

19 emergency response systems to more effectively re20 spond to this and future outbreaks of Ebola and 

21 other highly infectious diseases; 

22 (12) welcomes proactive measures taken by gov23 ernments in West Africa to formulate national plans 

24 of action in response to the crisis; and 


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1 (13) recognizes the work of thousands of Afri2 can, United States, and international officials and 

3 volunteers on the ground in West Africa, particularly 

4 healthcare workers, who are working diligently and 

5 at great risk to help address this multidimensional 

6 crisis, and encourages other healthcare workers and 

7 logisticians to volunteer. 

Æ 


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