When the first cases of Ebola virus were announced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo this month, Dr. Jeffrey Samuel, traveling in East Africa, read about it on the Direct Relief website. Dr. Samuel, a clinical pharmacist and Direct Relief’s regional director for Africa, was visiting hospital partners in Uganda at the time the country’s first cases were being identified and contained. “We were already engaging with and supporting partners in Uganda through routine medical shipments and other ongoing support,” he explained. “That work was not Ebola-specific, but it reflects the kind of sustained support health systems need before, during, and after an emergency.” Direct Relief also dispatched $2.5 million in emergency medical support to the DRC , the epicenter of the outbreak, to support Ebola containment and treatment. But Dr. Samuel stressed that routine support can’t be disentangled from emergency response.…