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WHO warns insecurity threatens Ebola response in DR Congo as death toll exceeds 5,300 – EnviroNews
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that insecurity, attacks on health workers and humanitarian facilities, and funding delays are undermining efforts to contain the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where more than 5,300 deaths have been reported.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, gave the warning on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, during a briefing to Member States on the outbreak, which remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
According to Tedros, nearly 11,000 confirmed cases and more than 5,300 deaths have been recorded across eight provinces of the DRC, although almost 3,000 people have recovered.
He said there were encouraging signs that transmission was slowing in some areas, but warned that new hotspots continued to emerge and the outbreak was still expanding in other locations.
“We cannot mistake progress in some places for control of the outbreak as a whole,” he cautioned.
The WHO chief identified insecurity as one of the greatest obstacles to the response, citing an attack on the town of Cantine-Aloya the previous week, in which 66 civilians, including three health workers, were killed.
Three health facilities were also looted and burned during the attack, while more than 1,000 contacts were reportedly lost to follow-up and three confirmed Ebola cases remained unaccounted for.
Describing the incident as both a major humanitarian emergency and a significant setback to the Ebola response, Tedros said it was part of a series of attacks targeting health workers and response facilities.
He recalled that a nurse was killed and another health worker seriously injured two weeks earlier while responding to an Ebola alert in Tshopo Province.
Other security incidents included a grenade discovered near a health zone office, gunfire near an Ebola treatment centre, an arson attempt on a treatment facility, stones thrown at a vehicle conducting safe and dignified burials, and threats against health workers.
According to him, the attacks restrict humanitarian access, disrupt response operations and delay efforts to reach affected communities, thereby giving the virus an advantage.
He added that population displacement, difficult terrain and rainy weather were further complicating the response.
Tedros also expressed concern over delays in paying frontline health workers and responders, warning that the situation could trigger strikes and tensions within communities at a time when rapid action was critical.
He acknowledged that response activities were expanding but said they remained below the scale required to rapidly identify, isolate and treat every case, trace contacts and interrupt transmission.
The WHO Director-General said the organisation was working under the leadership of the DRC government, in partnership with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and other partners, to strengthen surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical care, infection prevention and control, safe and dignified burials, and risk communication and community engagement.
He stressed that all these components must operate as an integrated system, explaining that alerts should lead quickly to investigations, isolation and testing, while positive results must trigger treatment and immediate identification and follow-up of contacts.
On research and vaccination, Tedros disclosed that a trial involving the Ervebo vaccine began last month, while WHO expert groups had recommended the inclusion of two vaccine candidates specifically developed for the Bundibugyo virus.
However, he cautioned that vaccines alone could not replace immediate public health interventions, including early treatment, contact tracing, isolation, safe burials, infection prevention and sustained engagement with communities.
He also emphasised that the Ebola response must not undermine essential healthcare services for affected populations.
According to him, outbreak control should not come at the expense of primary healthcare, maternal and child health services, or access to treatment for other diseases.
He called for equitable access to affected populations, including people living in areas outside government control and other hard-to-reach locations.
The WHO chief further stressed the importance of protecting communities from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment throughout the response.
He said WHO was working with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and other inter-agency partners to strengthen safeguards, reporting channels, investigations and timely, survivor-centred assistance.
While acknowledging improvements in integrating protection measures compared with previous Ebola responses, he said significant gaps remained and called for safeguards to translate into safer access to services and effective support for victims and survivors.
On regional preparedness, Tedros disclosed that Kenya had reported nine Ebola cases linked to an imported infection from the DRC, including two deaths.
He announced that Kenya had discharged its final patient on Wednesday and commenced the 42-day countdown towards being declared Ebola-free.
Nigeria, he added, had reported one imported case involving a Swiss citizen who was evacuated to Switzerland alongside their spouse.
He said the rapid detection and management of cases in both countries demonstrated the importance of preparedness, transparency and effective control measures.
WHO, he noted, was supporting preparedness in countries at risk, particularly around high-risk border areas, through enhanced surveillance, investigation of alerts, testing, isolation, clinical management and the procurement of personal protective equipment.
Tedros also renewed WHO’s call on countries that had imposed blanket travel restrictions to lift them, arguing that such measures hinder response operations, damage livelihoods and discourage countries from reporting outbreaks promptly and transparently.
He maintained that targeted, evidence-based public health measures were more effective in addressing the threat.
On the financing and coordination of the response, he disclosed that the DRC government had updated its national response plan through January 2027, while WHO and Africa CDC were revising the Continental Preparedness and Response Plan for the next phase of the intervention.
Although WHO had mobilised substantial resources, he said funding must be timely, coordinated and directed towards the most urgent operational needs.
He called for transparent tracking of financial pledges, commitments and disbursements to ensure accountability and measurable impact.
The WHO Director-General outlined five priorities for Member States and response partners.
These include sustaining political and diplomatic engagement to secure safe and equitable humanitarian access, protecting health workers and facilities, and preserving humanitarian space.
He also urged partners to support the rapid expansion of response operations in affected areas and preparedness activities in countries at risk, in alignment with national leadership and the common response plan.
Other priorities include ensuring timely payment of frontline workers, maintaining essential health and humanitarian services, and placing communities at the centre of response activities.
“Trust cannot be added at the end of a response. It is built through respectful engagement, reliable services, accountability and action on what communities tell us,” he said.
Tedros further urged the international community not to concentrate exclusively on Ebola, noting that affected populations faced several other health and humanitarian challenges.
He recalled that some residents had personally told him that Ebola was a lesser evil compared with other threats confronting their communities.
He therefore called for a broader intervention that would address these challenges while strengthening the health system, so that affected communities would emerge from the outbreak in a better position than before.
“The path to ending this outbreak is clear: national leadership, community ownership, safe access, disciplined coordination and sustained support by all partners,” he said.
He reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to supporting the DRC government, affected communities and countries working to prevent further international spread of the virus.
