UN Chief Urges Global Action as DRC Ebola Outbreak Spirals
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres calls for urgent international funding as the DRC's Ebola outbreak worsens, with 5,656 cases and 2,715 deaths.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has issued an urgent appeal for international support as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) intensifies. Speaking to reporters in New York on Thursday, he described the epidemic as the fastest-spreading and largest in the country's history.
As of Monday, the DRC had confirmed 5,656 Ebola cases and 2,715 deaths, with roughly 500 new infections reported each week. The outbreak is expanding across a wide geographic area, and women and children are being disproportionately affected.
Guterres highlighted the dire context, noting that three decades of conflict in Ituri Province alone have displaced one million people and severely weakened access to food, healthcare, and other basic services. Across the region, more than 12 million people require humanitarian assistance and protection, while local health systems remain overwhelmed and infrastructure is weak.
Frontline health workers are paying a heavy price. More than 40 have lost their lives while treating patients, and others have been infected. Treatment centers and ambulances have also come under attack.
"Every gap in funding and operational support makes the Ebola response more challenging," Guterres said. The UN has put forward a detailed humanitarian plan requiring $2.13 billion, but only 48 percent of that is currently funded. The secretary-general warned that existing resources will last only weeks, not months, and that vital operations could run out of money just when they need to expand.
He called on donor nations to bridge the remaining $1.1 billion gap to support health services, disease surveillance, logistics, community engagement, emergency staffing, and humanitarian aid.
Separately, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa announced on Thursday that the Ebola outbreak in Uganda has officially ended. The last patient completed treatment and was discharged on July 16, with no new confirmed cases recorded for 42 consecutive days. The Ugandan outbreak, which began on May 15, resulted in 20 confirmed cases—15 imported from the DRC and five locally transmitted—with two deaths.