KINSHASA, DR Congo — World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has arrived in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for high-level talks with President Félix Tshisekedi as the country’s latest Ebola outbreak continues to spread at what the UN health agency describes as an “exceptional” pace.
Tedros arrived in the capital, Kinshasa, on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet President Tshisekedi on Wednesday to discuss efforts to strengthen the country’s response to the outbreak, a WHO spokesperson confirmed.
The visit comes days after the WHO warned that the epidemic was expanding beyond the current response capacity and called for increased international financial and technical support.
The DRC declared its 17th Ebola outbreak on May 15, with the disease continuing to spread rapidly across the country’s eastern provinces.
According to the WHO, the outbreak has so far resulted in 3,874 confirmed cases and 1,751 deaths, making it one of the country’s deadliest Ebola epidemics.
The worst outbreak in the country’s history occurred between 2018 and 2020, when nearly 2,300 people died out of approximately 3,500 confirmed infections.
Response Under Pressure
Tedros previously visited the DRC in late May, travelling to the northeastern province of Ituri, where nearly 90 percent of confirmed Ebola infections have been recorded.
Health officials say the current outbreak is being driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.
The epidemic is affecting five provinces in eastern DRC, where fragile healthcare systems, insecurity and limited government presence continue to hamper response efforts.
“The outbreak is unfortunately still expanding beyond the capacity of the response,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said during a briefing in Geneva.
“We need more support in terms of finances, but also other resources to scale up all areas of response: treatment capacity, field investigation teams, safe burial teams and community workers.”
Global Efforts Intensify
As international health agencies work to contain the outbreak, research into vaccines and treatments has accelerated.
On Tuesday, Canada authorized US biotechnology company Moderna to begin clinical trials of an experimental vaccine targeting the Bundibugyo strain.
The vaccine, known as rVSV Bundibugyo, is also being developed in partnership with Singapore-based Hilleman Laboratories and has been described by the WHO as the most promising vaccine candidate against the strain.
At the end of July, another experimental vaccine developed by Oxford University using technology similar to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was administered to its first volunteer.
Researchers are also evaluating several potential treatments, including the antiviral medicines remdesivir and obeldesivir, as well as the monoclonal antibody MBP134, in an effort to improve survival rates.
Disease Continues to Threaten Africa
Ebola is a highly infectious viral disease transmitted through direct contact with the bodily fluids of infected individuals.
The illness causes severe haemorrhagic fever and has claimed more than 15,000 lives across Africa over the past five decades, according to the WHO.
Health authorities hope Tedros’ visit will help mobilize additional international support as the DRC seeks to contain one of its most challenging Ebola outbreaks in recent years.
