The World Health Organization’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, landed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province on Saturday, the epicentre of a severe outbreak of a rare Ebola strain. His visit comes as the virus spreads faster than the response can keep pace, despite improved health facilities and fresh aid deliveries.
Tedros is expected to tour a treatment centre and meet local authorities, health workers, and affected families in Bunia, the provincial capital. “The best way to address this is to provide all the necessary support to fight the disease at its epicentre and to continue offering every assistance needed,” he told reporters. He added that while the international community is helping the DRC government cope, “at the same time, community ownership is important. We are here to discuss with the community, to see how the response is running and if there are challenges to help.”
Scale of the Outbreak
The highly contagious haemorrhagic fever has already been detected in three eastern DRC provinces and in neighbouring Uganda. The WHO has warned that the true reach of the outbreak, which is thought to have been circulating before it was detected, is likely much wider. The vast, unstable central African country has limited capacity to conduct laboratory tests to confirm cases.
According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, there have been at least 1,077 suspected cases, including 246 deaths. Uganda’s Ministry of Health confirmed nine infections and one death on Friday. The WHO announced that a patient had recovered on Wednesday, left hospital, and was discharged into the community after two negative tests. WHO’s Anais Legand told reporters in Geneva it marked the “first” among patients who had been confirmed Ebola carriers in the current outbreak.
Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The deadliest outbreak in the DRC claimed nearly 2,300 lives out of 3,500 cases between 2018 and 2020.
Conflict and Border Closures
State services are largely lacking in Ituri province, where access is hindered by insecurity due to the presence of Islamic State-affiliated ADF militants and a coalition of ethnic militias that regularly kill civilians. The nearby North and South Kivu provinces have also seen Ebola cases and have been plagued by near-continuous violence for three decades. Swathes of the region are controlled by the Rwanda-backed armed group M23, which has been battling government forces and has reported two cases in key cities under its control, including Goma and Bukavu.
Millions of people have fled the fighting and are living in displacement camps with poor hygiene conditions. Nearly a million of those displaced are in Ituri province, where the prospect of the epidemic spreading throughout the camps has sparked alarm. “If Ebola comes, we’ll be wiped out as we’re packed like sardines,” Dorcas Mapenzi said at the Kingonze camp on the outskirts of Bunia.
In response to the crisis, Uganda and Rwanda have closed their borders, with Uganda ordering a 21-day quarantine for anyone arriving from the DRC. Additionally, the Trump administration banned last week the entry of non-US passport holders who had recently visited Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan.
The European Union has also stepped in, with medical aid arriving in Goma as part of a broader international effort. For more on that, see DR Congo Intensifies Ebola Response as EU Medical Aid Arrives in Goma. Meanwhile, the border closure by Uganda is detailed in Uganda Closes Border with DR Congo as Rare Ebola Strain Spreads.
The situation remains fluid, with health officials racing to contain the outbreak amid ongoing conflict and displacement. Tedros’s visit underscores the urgency of a coordinated response that combines international resources with local engagement.
