Six months into the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak, the virus is continuing to spread and international aid is not reaching the front line, French medical charity Doctors Without Borders said on Thursday.
Issued on: 12/11/2026 - RFI
The current outbreak of Ebola was first detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) conflict-hit Ituri province in mid-May.
It has since killed more than 5,300 people, with more than 11,000 confirmed cases.
Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) warned on Thursday that the outbreak, the country's worst, "remains out of control".
It also urged more "transparency and accountability" from the Congolese state over a "persistent" gap between resources and action.
"A troubling disconnect between the considerable resources mobilised for the response and what is actually reaching patients, frontline workers, and communities continues," MSF said in a statement.
Ambulances without fuel
Despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the international community, "many frontline responders are left trying to contain the outbreak with empty hands and empty pockets," said Javid Abdelmoneim, MSF's international president.
"Our teams are often left speechless by the dysfunction they witness in many areas. Six months into the response, this situation is simply unacceptable."
MSF cited cases of healthcare workers not being paid or trained, ambulances left to run without fuel, a lack of supplies or support for frontline employees and "surveillance teams that exist on paper but are nowhere to be seen on the ground".
The charity also warned that some parts of the vast central African nation were seeing an "excessive concentration of efforts... at the expense of other hotspots where needs are increasingly urgent".
These inadequacies have made some hospitals into "new centres of transmission, rather than places of care", MSF warned. In one part of the eastern province of North Kivu, "close to three-quarters of Ebola patients contracted the disease in a health facility".
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'Problematic' surveillance system
The charity also criticised a "deeply problematic" virus surveillance system.
While it acknowledged that "community mistrust makes surveillance difficult", given the long absence of the Congolese state from many of the hotspots, "urgent improvements in oversight, staffing, and operational support are essential".
The latest outbreak of Ebola, which is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, has also spread across the DRC's borders to Uganda, Kenya and as far afield as Nigeria.
The current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which no approved vaccine or treatment is currently available. Development of a virus-specific vaccine is under way but could take months.
MSF has called for people at risk to be given broader access to the ERVEBO® vaccine, saying it's the only one currently available at scale.
“For MSF, the absence of a Bundibugyo-specific vaccine should not prevent the use of the only vaccine currently available,” sais Guyguy Manangama, epidemiologist and deputy director of operations at MSF.
“Every month spent waiting for dedicated tools leaves healthcare workers, frontline responders, contacts of confirmed cases and affected communities exposed to a potentially deadly disease.”
More than 5,500 dead as Congo's Ebola epidemic continues rapid spread
13.11.2026
Congo has recorded more than 11,000 Ebola cases in the past six months. Nearly half of those affected have died.
The actual toll could be higher, as experts say the virus may have been spreading undetected since at least February, several months before the outbreak was officially declared on May 15.
Ebola is a severe infectious disease caused by viruses which can rapidly cause fluid loss, inflammatory reactions, coagulation disorders and, ultimately, organ failure. The later you start treating the symptoms, the higher the risk of death.
Early symptoms can also be mistaken for other illnesses, such as malaria, potentially delaying the isolation and treatment of patients.
The current outbreak has been particularly difficult to contain because there is no vaccine or specific treatment approved for the Bundibugyo strain.
Ebola has now reached eight of the country's provinces and beyond Congo's borders. Cases have also been reported in Kenya and Nigeria as well as Uganda.
Children worst affected
Children are paying a particularly high price, making up a significant share of confirmed cases. They are also more likely to die from the disease, says Epicentre, the Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) epidemiological research centre.
Nearly a quarter of confirmed Ebola cases affect youngsters below the age of 5 in Congo's North Kivu province, a region already roiled by acute armed conflict. It has been the epicentre of decades of war and humanitarian crises.
In North Kivu, where 24% of confirmed cases are among children under 5, some 54% are infants less than 1 year old. In comparison, in Ituri Province, children under 5 make up 13% of confirmed cases, with 46% under 1 year old.
At the Butembo Ebola treatment centre, North Kivu, MSF teams have recorded a particularly high fatality rate among children. Between June and September 2026, 24 out of 30 children admitted to the centre died from Ebola disease, most of whom were under the age of 5.
The rapid spread of the disease in communities and limited access to specialized care in health facilities are contributing to the alarmingly high fatality rates, MSF says.
Challenging for aid workers
"Even though we are on the ground and very much present, we are not sufficiently prepared for such a surge in cases," says Nejma Banks, a healthcare worker with MSF in Beni, eastern Congo. "Our capacities have reached their limits. Our Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) is often full, even when additional beds are made available.”
Furthermore, patients often reach the treatment centre too late, leading to a higher mortality rate, Banks says.
“In a more stable environment, Ebola treatment centres can be set up within weeks, where proper medical care can be provided,” says Maximilian Gertler, an infectious diseases specialist at Berlin’s Charité hospital, deployed by MSF 10 years ago to tackle what was then the largest Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
But conflict compounds the risk. There are around 100 armed groups in the eastern provinces of Ituri and North Kivu, and fighting breaks out time and again.
“In a region where there are so many different armed groups, each claiming and controlling different parts of the country and constantly setting up checkpoints, there is always a risk for aid workers,” adds Gertler.
Few preventive measures
Ursula Langkamp, Congo country director for Welthungerhilfe, a German charity, recently visited the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri.
She worked in Sierra Leone during the major Ebola outbreak 10 years ago and recalls that due to the risk of infection, gatherings and family celebrations were banned, and churches and mosques were closed there.
The situation in the parts of Congo hit by Ebola is completely different, she told dpa. “The pubs are full, there are weddings and birthday parties, and the schools are open.”
In hotels where many Ebola response workers are also staying, there are no fever screenings. Government offices do not always have hand sanitizer stations, she says.
“And if you look at the numbers of cases and deaths, Congo is already at the same level Sierra Leone was at after two years.”
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