Obama to urge Congress to loosen purse strings for Ebola fight

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Tuesday will press Congress to approve US$6.18 billion (S$8.08 billion) in emergency funding to help fight the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and prepare US hospitals to handle future cases.

Most of the request is aimed at the immediate response to the disease at home and abroad.

But the package also includes US$1.5 billion in contingency funds - money that could become a target if lawmakers decide to trim the bill.

"That is the part of the package that is most at risk," said Sam Worthington, president of InterAction, an alliance of US non-governmental aid groups.

While lawmakers recognise that the United States had to take action to arrest the deadly disease, some are wary of giving the administration leeway in investing money in public health systems in West Africa.

"I think there is less understanding of the need to stay in it for the long run and to build the capacity of countries to ensure this doesn't happen in the future," Worthington said in an interview.

The worst Ebola outbreak on record has killed at least 5,987 people since March, mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

The Obama administration came under fire in September after a series of missteps with a man who travelled to Dallas from Liberia and later died of Ebola. Two nurses contracted the disease while caring for the man.

Screening and treatment procedures have since been tightened.

There are no current US cases, and stories about the outbreak have faded from headlines.

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Obama to urge Congress to loosen purse strings for Ebola fight