DRC facing ‘catastrophic collision’ of Ebola and war, WHO chief warns
Key takeaways
- “Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Wednesday.
- So far, the global health watchdog has recorded at least 10 confirmed Ebola deaths and 220 suspected deaths in the country since mid-May.
- The United Nations health agency said the true spread of the virus was probably much wider.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A health worker takes the temperature of a woman passing through the Kanyaruchinya checkpoint, as authorities and aid agencies intensify efforts to contain a new Ebola outbreak involving the Bundibugyo strain, in the northern entry into the city of Goma, North Kivu province, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, May 20, 2026 [Arlette Bashizi/Reuters]By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and AnadoluPublished On 27 May 202627 May 2026The World Health Organization chief has warned that the conflict raging in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was dramatically complicating efforts to rein in an Ebola outbreak.
“Eastern DRC now faces a catastrophic collision of disease and conflict with the Ebola outbreak in Ituri province outpacing the response,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on X on Wednesday.
So far, the global health watchdog has recorded at least 10 confirmed Ebola deaths and 220 suspected deaths in the country since mid-May. The organisation has also recorded 900 suspected cases since the DRC declared the outbreak on May 15.