Aid supplies reach heart of DR Congo’s Ebola outbreak
As aid workers ship supplies to the heart of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there is an outbreak of a rare strain of the Ebola virus, beleaguered medical personnel struggle with a lack of equipment, an insecure population and armed groups in a volatile region.
With aid donated by the European Union, a cargo plane delivered masks, gloves, boots and medicines – all in short supply – to the northeastern town of Bunia, at the center of the outbreak in DR Congo’s Ituri province.
United Nations branded forklifts carried many crates to the trucks.
Under-equipped health workers are struggling to contain an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, a type of Ebola for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine.
In some areas, doctors have resorted to wearing expired medical masks when treating suspected patients.
To the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo, especially the Ituri people, Jambo kwenu wakahaji wa IturiMbote na bino, bato ya Ituri My name is Tedros and I am the Director-General of the World Health Organization (@WHO). But I am not writing to you today as an official. I’m writing to you… pic.twitter.com/RoXCWy50fk— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) May 28, 2026
The dangers faced by healthcare workers have been exacerbated by anger among residents over strict medical protocols regarding the bodies of victims clashing with local burials.
In Ituri province, residents carried out at least three attacks on health centers.
Jérôme Kouachi, UNICEF’s head of emergency operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, told The Associated Press that the aid donated by the EU is expected to arrive in batches within the next eight days.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, was traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo to see the efforts firsthand.
WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in the hope of increasing aid.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since declaring an epidemic on May 15.
But the virus has been spreading undetected for weeks, and WHO suspects it is much larger than reported.
The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.
On Wednesday, the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo said the first person to recover from the virus had left the health centre.
“We are trying to catch up,” DR Congo Foreign Minister Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner said earlier this week.
“It’s a race against time.”
The response on the ground has been hampered by challenges such as bureaucracy at customs, inadequate storage facilities, poor roads and poor telecommunications, humanitarian organizations said in a report released on Thursday.
Tedros on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have staged violent attacks for decades.
“We can’t build community trust or isolate patients while the bombs are falling,” he said.
