Aid workers rushed critical supplies Thursday to the center of a rare Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where overstretched medical teams are battling severe shortages, community distrust and insecurity tied to armed groups in the volatile east.
A white cargo plane carrying European Union-donated aid landed in Bunia, the epicenter of the outbreak in Ituri province, delivering masks, gloves, boots and essential medicines that remain in short supply. U.N.-marked forklifts loaded crates onto waiting trucks as operations moved quickly to distribute the equipment.
Health workers are trying to contain the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, a rare variant with no approved treatment or vaccine. In several areas, clinicians have been forced to rely on expired protective gear while treating suspected patients, underscoring the strain on the response.
Efforts are further complicated by anger over strict protocols for handling bodies of those who die from the disease, which often conflict with traditional burial practices. That tension has fueled unrest, including at least three reported attacks on health facilities in Ituri province.
Congolese Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba said that during outbreaks, people in remote communities can feel overwhelmed by an influx of information and responders.
“We’ve seen in every epidemic that there’s always resistance,” Kamba said. “Communities always ask themselves, ‘What’s going on?’ And in epidemics like this, it is risk communication and community engagement that ultimately change perceptions.”
Aid donated by the European Union is expected to arrive in batches over the next eight days, said Jerome Kouachi, head of emergency operations at UNICEF in Congo.
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was en route to Congo to witness the response. The WHO has declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern in an effort to accelerate assistance.
The United States said Thursday it is increasing aid to Congo and Uganda by $80 million, bringing its total commitment to more than $112 million since the outbreak began.
The additional funding will support personal protective equipment for health workers, Ebola test kits, airport screening and contact tracing, the U.S. State Department said.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said the organization believed it had secured nearly $500 million in pledges earlier this week for Africa’s emergency response, but that figure had dropped to $290 million as partners withdrew or scaled back commitments.
He also said the Africa CDC hopes to have treatments and a vaccine for the Bundibugyo virus by the end of the year, with several candidates already in development.
Congolese authorities have confirmed more than 1,000 suspected cases, with at least 220 deaths, since the outbreak was declared May 15. Officials say the virus likely spread undetected for weeks and the WHO believes the true scale is larger than reported.
The virus has also reached neighboring Uganda, which has confirmed seven cases and one death.
On Wednesday, the Congolese government said the first survivor had been discharged from a treatment center.
“We are trying to catch up,” Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner said earlier this week. “It is a race against the clock.”
The response has been hampered by customs red tape, limited storage capacity, poor roads and weak telecommunications, humanitarian agencies said in a report Thursday.
Tedros on Wednesday called for a ceasefire in a region where armed groups have carried out violent attacks for decades.
“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” he said.
Tucked in the northeastern part of the country near the Ugandan border, Ituri province has been reeling from attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel group linked to the Daesh group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned homes in Ituri.
The illness has also been reported in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls several key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.
Goma’s main airport, which also serves as a staging point for humanitarian operations, has been closed since January 2025 after M23 seized the city.
The conflict has driven one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, with at least 7 million people displaced in eastern Congo.
