Ebola outbreak spreading faster than efforts to fight it: WHO

Healthcare Ebola outbreak spreading faster than efforts to fight it: WHO Comments: by Sarah Davis - 08/06/26 11:32 AM ET Comments: Link copied by Sarah Davis - 08/06/26 11:32 AM ET Comments: Link copied

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New reported cases of Ebola are outpacing the response capabilities from international health partners, a top World Health Organization (WHO) official said this week.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the “outbreak is spreading faster than our scale up of the response” in a statement shared on social media following a Wednesday meeting with health partners in Congo’s capital city, Kinshasa.

The Ebola outbreak is now the largest in recorded history, with most of the reported cases concentrated in Congo. As of July 30, the African country has reported 3,605 confirmed cases, including 1,587 deaths, according to the WHO.

Ghebreyesus said that new cases of Ebola’s Bundibugyo strain have doubled “over the past week alone” in hot spot areas.

“We all agree that we must urgently and massively scale up all our efforts across all pillars of the response and by all partners,” the WHO official said in his Wednesday statement, specifically encouraging intergovernmental cooperation, protections for healthcare workers and expanded access to medical care.

The international response to the Ebola outbreak in Congo has been complicated by armed conflict and public mistrust in the region. Ghebreyesus acknowledged these factors in an open letter to Congo residents at the end of May, in which he called on warring parties to declare a ceasefire to allow life-saving care to reach affected people.

“I urge you, I implore you: give us the space to help the people who need it most,” Ghebreyesus wrote. “I also know that there is anger and mistrust in some communities, and I understand why. Trust must be earned, it cannot be assumed. We have not always done things correctly. But I promise you, we are here to learn as much as we are here to help.”

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya said in a Thursday morning press call the issue was not funding, noting the Ebola response has received more than $1.4 million in support from the U.S. and other international partners.

“Ladies and gentlemen, let me be clear that money is not the issue today,” he said. “Then, what is the issue? The issue is we are not listening.”

Kaseya said he recently worked with leaders in Congo’s Ituri province to develop a public health response to combat the crisis, including establishing a “village-centered response,” offering free healthcare services, ensuring the safe reopening of educational centers in September and strengthening coordination across borders.

Members of Congress have also urged the Trump administration to do more to assist the international response to the health crisis.

In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week, Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called on the Trump administration to release funding for family planning and supplies to aid women affected during the outbreak.

Rubio has faced criticism from Democrats on Capitol Hill over the Trump administration’s decision to cut global health programs amid the outbreak. The U.S. Agency for International Development shut down last year, and the U.S. officially left the WHO earlier this year.

The State Department announced on Wednesday it would release an additional $242 million to assist the Ebola response, which builds upon an initial $350 million in critical humanitarian response already provided to Congo, South Sudan and Uganda.

Additionally, the State Department has imposed an advanced screening process at several U.S. airports for citizens traveling from affected countries and temporarily banned foreign nationals from these countries.

In an order last month extending the ban for another 30 days, Assistant Secretary for Health Adm. Brian Christine wrote that the spread of Ebola in Congo and Uganda and the threat of a spread to South Sudan “constitutes a serious danger of the introduction of this disease into the United States due to the limited screening and testing and mitigation measures currently available.”

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