Will Zika see 'big private sector action'?

As the international community struggles to mobilize funds and resources to take on the Zika virus outbreak, pandemic experts have asked why the private sector has not played a bigger role in critical elements of response such as diagnostic testing. But that could change soon. “We really don’t have a good test and we don’t so far have a lot of private sector partners who are ready to scale up the technology to make diagnostic tests,” Patrick Kachur, medical officer at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. As a result, CDC laboratories have had to work “around the clock” on diagnostic testing, Kichur said. He also told Devex that the public health agency “has had to do more heavy lifting than we’re really good at.” But the private sector’s role in the Zika response could soon ramp up, hinted Amy Pope, deputy homeland security adviser and deputy national security adviser at the White House National Security Council. “We’re actually hopeful that we’ll have some big private sector action in the coming weeks that we’ll be able to announce,” Pope said. In February, the White House requested $1.9 billion to support domestic and international efforts to combat the mosquito-borne disease, but so far the U.S. Congress has not appropriated that sum. The Senate voted Tuesday to make available $1.1 billion, and on Wednesday the House of Representatives approved $622 million in Zika funding. The Obama administration called the House proposal “woefully inadequate.” Stay tuned to Devex for more news and analysis of U.S. aid, and subscribe to The Development Newswire to receive the latest from the world’s leading donors and decision-makers — emailed to you FREE every business day.