A health worker, wearing protective gear, at the Ebola Treatment Centre in Bunia, DR Congo, 22 July 2026.
Democraticย Republicย Ofย Congo
Fear of catching the Ebola is seeing some residents in the Democratic Republic of Congoโs north east Ituri province avoiding hospitals for essential healthcare services, including for births and immunisations.
Some of the referred patients lost their lives, which has increased fear in the community and discouraged people from seeking care at our facility,” said Losha Dhedda, head nurse at Buniaโs Bigo Hospital.
UNICEF says that data from local authorities shows a drop of 42 per cent in the use of services between April and June in the primary outbreak hotspots of Bunia, Mongbwalu, Nizi, and Rwampara,
According to figures published by the World Health Organization, there have been 3,874 confirmed cases including 1,751 deaths in the DRC since the start of the outbreak in mid-May.
Dhedda said many healthcare workers at Bigo Hospital have been afraid to treat Ebola patients because of the lack of adequate personal protective equipment.
The infection prevention and control kits we received today will help us strengthen these measures,โ he said adding that they can now can โtreat patients without fear”.
WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who travelled to the country earlier this week, said the outbreak is spreading faster than โour scale-up of the responseโ
Posting on X after meeting organisations involved in the response effort, he said new cases had doubled in some hotspots โover the past week alone”.
He said there was an urgent need to “massively scale up all our effortsโ to combat the outbreak.
Tedros said this included โreaching every affected community despite insecurity and displacementโ, strengthening coordination and ensuring health workers have the correct protection and training.
The WHO chief was previously in the DRC at the end of May in the north-eastern province of Ituri where nearly 90 per cent of Ebola cases have been identified.
The five affected provinces in eastern DRC have a weak state presence and healthcare infrastructure is largely lacking.
Theย Unitedย Statesย announcedย Wednesdayย thatย itย hadย allocatedย moreย thanย $242ย millionย inย additionalย fundingย toย combatย theย worseningย outbreak.
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