KINSHASA – The World Health Organization’s top official touched down in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, late Thursday. His visit aims to assess the ongoing fight against a rare strain of the Ebola virus amidst challenges posed by a shortage of equipment, a skeptical public, and the presence of armed groups in a turbulent region.
“My presence here is a testament to the community that they are not facing this crisis alone,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus remarked to the press upon his arrival at the airport.
He continued, “Issuing directives from my office in Geneva might be straightforward, but I’m urging my team to collaborate closely with the community, and I call upon the communities to take measures to protect themselves.”
On Thursday, vital medical supplies from the European Union arrived in Ituri province, the epicenter of Congo’s Ebola crisis. Concurrently, the United States pledged an additional $80 million in aid, increasing its total contribution to over $112 million.
Healthcare workers, facing a severe shortage of resources, are battling an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus—a form of Ebola with no approved cure or vaccine. In some instances, medical staff have had to use expired masks while treating those suspected of being infected.
The World Health Organization reports that as of Tuesday, there have been 1,077 suspected cases and 238 suspected deaths attributed to the outbreak.
Dangers faced by health workers have been heightened by anger among residents over the stringent medical protocols for dealing with the bodies of victims, which clash with local burial rites. Residents have launched at least three attacks against health centers.
Tedros said other challenges are also complicating the containment of the outbreak, including the high number of people displaced by armed conflict in the region, and food insecurity.
On Wednesday, he had called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have staged violent attacks for decades.
“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” Tedros said.
Tucked in the northeastern part of Congo close to the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.
The illness also has been reported in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.
The region’s main airport in Goma, which doubles as a staging ground for humanitarian efforts into the region, has been closed since January 2025, when M23 seized the city.
The conflict has precipitated one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in eastern Congo.
The WHO chief said Thursday he discourages countries from imposing travel bans against nationals of countries affected by the outbreak.
“There are ways to manage workers and to manage cases without having a strong, restricted travel ban and we don’t encourage that as WHO,” Tedros said.
The Trump administration last week announced a temporary ban on the entry of people without U.S. passports, as well as U.S. green-card holders, who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days. It said Wednesday it plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the U.S. Congo’s neighbors, Uganda and Rwanda, recently closed their borders.
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Banchereau contributed from Dakar, Senegal.
