The United Nations has announced that the ongoing Ebola outbreak has inflicted a severe $6.3 billion economic toll on Africa. Damien Mama, the UNDP Resident Representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo, warned that the crisis threatens to eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs and spark a widespread development emergency. Stressing the urgent need for intervention, Mama noted, “If we have the necessary resources and act, we can contain this outbreak and prevent further losses.” However, he firmly cautioned that a failure to respond risks turning the current health emergency into a “much deeper and longer-lasting development crisis” for the entire continent.