WHO, Africa CDC raise alarm over Ebola funding shortfall as outbreak spreads

Health authorities from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have warned that a growing funding gap could undermine Ebola response efforts in Central and East Africa.

This even as the outbreak continues to spread across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda.

“The outbreak initially outpacing the response, containing Ebola requires political commitment, sustained financing, and the trust and engagement of communities,” said WHO-Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“The outbreak is moving fast and we are still playing catch-up. Stopping this Ebola transmission depends entirely on humanitarian access,” he added.

The outbreak, first confirmed in the DRC on May 15, 2026, has so far recorded 550 confirmed cases and more than 100 deaths, while Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases and at least two deaths linked to cross-border transmission.

WHO investigators say the virus may have been circulating undetected since January 2026, raising concerns over surveillance gaps in affected regions.

“Stopping this Ebola transmission depends entirely on humanitarian access “shared in joint WHO and Africa CDC collaboration statements

“We are turning commitment into action and resources into response for the communities at risk, “statement stated.

Public health experts warn that delays in funding and disbursement are slowing down critical interventions such as community engagement, testing, contact tracing, and treatment.

Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Group CEO of AMREF Health Africa, said financing gaps directly weaken the first line of defence in outbreak control: communities.

“On the ground, we must ask ourselves what are the needs for the money? The most important needs are, for example, to engage communities, to inform communities, to build trust with communities so that the communities can be the foundation for the response,” he said.

He warned that without adequate funding, transmission can continue undetected.

“So, when you don’t have money, it means that these things cannot happen. And that just enables the virus to be transmitted in the dark,” he said.

Dr. Gitahi cautioned that Ebola and similar outbreaks often expand rapidly when response systems are underfunded or delayed.

“If we are not able to actually manage the transmission, it means that the growth of cases is going to be exponential and therefore we are going to be chasing the virus as we have done before in COVID,” he said.

He added that delays in releasing pledged funds are as damaging as funding gaps themselves.

“Speed of delivery of the money is as important as actually keeping the pledges,” he said. “Because if you don’t disburse the money fast, then they are always chasing the virus.”

He noted that weak diagnostic and logistical systems—especially sample transport and testing capacity—remain major bottlenecks.

“The samples have to be taken, you need a health workforce, it needs to be transported to a lab where it can be tested,” he said. “And the faster you do this, the better.”

Dr. Gitahi further warned that reduced or delayed funding disrupts outbreak planning.

“So, when you reduce the pledges midterm, it means that you actually cause the planning to disarray and there is no predictability in planning,” he said.

“And that is the worst thing you can do in an outbreak of this nature.”

He urged the international community to treat Ebola not as a regional problem but as a global threat.

“The international community should stop seeing this as a DRC problem or Uganda problem. It needs to start seeing it as a global problem,” he said, warning that weak containment at source could trigger global spread.

“Viruses travel very quickly. You need one person on a flight… and then it is a global crisis,” he said. “The faster we act to stop the virus at source, the better.”

He added that delayed action ultimately costs more.

“The consequence of not disbursing the pledges as they were urgently enough is that we are going to spend more, multiple times what we have pledged in trying to control the virus when it gets through our borders.”

Dr. Gitahi said Africa’s repeated Ebola outbreaks have reinforced one critical lesson: epidemics begin in communities, not hospitals.

“The biggest lesson is that every outbreak begins in a community not in a hospital,” he said. “By the time a patient reaches a health facility, the virus has already been spreading silently for five to seven days.”

He pointed to Kenya’s experience during the 2022 Uganda Ebola outbreak, when western border counties heightened surveillance to prevent cross-border spread.

“What we learned is that strengthening community-level surveillance is what actually shortens detection time,” he said. “In Uganda, that approach brought detection down from over a week to 24 to 48 hours.”

He stressed that Kenya must invest in Community Health Promoters as part of national preparedness.

“For Kenya, the takeaway is clear: our Community Health Promoters must be trained, equipped, and integrated into our national surveillance system before the next outbreak crosses our border not after,” he said.

On preparedness, Dr. Gitahi acknowledged progress but said major gaps persist.

“Kenya has taken important steps. The Ministry of Health has activated the National Incident Management System, our reference laboratories are running around the clock, and screening has been enhanced at high-risk border points,” he said.

However, he warned that weaknesses remain at community level. 

“The frameworks exist, but they need sustained resourcing, particularly at county level where the first response will happen,” he said.

He added that rapid diagnostics and vaccine gaps continue to limit response capacity.

“Rapid point-of-care diagnostics are not widely available at the community level,” he said. “And the Bundibugyo strain we are dealing with has no approved vaccine or treatment.”

Dr. Gitahi emphasized that trust remains central to outbreak control.

“Trust is everything. People must believe that reporting illness will bring care and support not stigma or forced isolation,” he said.

He highlighted the role of Community Health Promoters in building trust and countering misinformation.

“They are known, they are trusted, and they speak the local language. That is your foundation,” he said. 

Kenya’s more than 100,000 Community Health Promoters, he added, remain the country’s strongest early warning system.

“They are our most effective early warning system,” he said, noting that in past outbreaks community health workers generated the majority of alerts.

He cited regional examples of early detection.

“In 2023, a community health worker… in Tanzania’s Kagera region just across our border first flagged unexplained deaths during the Marburg outbreak, triggering a response that contained it within 78 days,” he said.

He called for better training, remuneration, and integration into surveillance systems.

“Now we must ensure they are properly remunerated, trained in disease event-based surveillance, equipped with reporting tools, and connected to rapid response systems,” he said.

Dr. Gitahi warned that major gaps persist in vaccine development and access.

“The uncomfortable truth is that the current outbreak involves the Bundibugyo species, for which there is no approved vaccine and no approved treatment,” he said.

He added that African countries remain dependent on global procurement systems and called for stronger investment in research and development pipelines.

On emerging risks, he linked outbreaks to climate change, population movement, and rapid urbanization.

“Flooding, drought cycles, and displacement are pushing communities into closer contact with wildlife reservoirs,” he said.

He called for a shift from reactive response to prevention.

“We need to shift from reactive containment to proactive prevention linking human, animal, and environmental surveillance,” he said.

He further urged sustained domestic financing for preparedness at county level.

“The county preparedness mechanisms that the Ministry of Health is now strengthening must become permanent, funded fixtures not emergency activations,” he said.

The current outbreak in the DRC and Uganda has renewed calls for increased investment in

preparedness and research for all Ebola strains. International partners, including WHO,

Africa CDC, CEPI, Gavi, the World Bank, and donor governments, have mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars to support outbreak control, vaccine research, surveillance, laboratory capacity, and cross-border preparedness.

The latest continental response plan launched by WHO and Africa CDC seeks US$518 million to contain the outbreak and protect at-risk countries. Health experts say the crisis underscores the need for long-term financing that goes beyond emergency response and supports development of vaccines and therapeutics for less-studied strains such as Bundibugyo before the next outbreak emerges.

The outbreak was first confirmed in the DRC on May 15, 2026, after health authorities identified Ebola cases caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain in Ituri Province.

WHO investigations suggest transmission may have begun as early as January 2026, allowing the virus to spread undetected for several months before official declaration.

Initial reports indicated 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths, prompting emergency response efforts from national and international agencies.

Since then, the outbreak has spread to North Kivu and South Kivu and crossed into Uganda.

As of June 9, 2026, DRC had reported 550 confirmed cases and more than 100 deaths.

Uganda has recorded 19 confirmed cases, most linked to cross-border movement, and at least one death. Authorities have intensified surveillance, isolation, and contact tracing measures.

WHO has commended Uganda’s response but emphasized the need for continued regional cooperation.

The outbreak has revived memories of the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, which caused more than 28,000 cases and over 11,000 deaths, exposing global preparedness gaps.

Experts warn the current outbreak could escalate further due to insecurity in eastern DRC and the absence of a licensed vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain.