Beyond fences: Africa’s biodiversity depends on working landscapes, not just protected areas

South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences

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Credit: Editorial Office of Biological Diversity

Date: May 28, 2026

Rome, Italy: Protected areas have long been the cornerstone of global conservation strategies, but a new commentary in Biological Diversity reveals this approach is insufficient for Africa. Led by ecologist Luca Luiselli, the study demonstrates that most of Africa’s biodiversity persists outside formal protected areas, challenging the reliance on fenced reserves and policies like the 30×30 target that prioritize spatial protection over ecological outcomes.

Across the continent, sacred forests, agricultural mosaics, pastoral rangelands, and secondary forests support rich biodiversity. For example, endangered primates thrive in unprotected forests in Cameroon, while 80% of pygmy hippo signs in Sierra Leone occur outside reserves. These “working landscapes”—shaped by centuries of human-nature coexistence—often retain higher ecological connectivity and resilience to climate change than isolated protected areas.

Traditional conservation models, however, marginalize these landscapes. Protected areas are frequently fragmented, underfunded “paper parks,” while local communities are excluded from resource access, fueling conflict. The 30×30 target, though well-intentioned, incentivizes expanding protected area coverage rather than ensuring biodiversity persistence, ignoring the dynamic reality of African ecosystems.

Luiselli emphasizes that protected areas are necessary but not sufficient. The solution lies in inclusive governance: recognizing local land rights, supporting community-managed conservancies, and integrating working landscapes into conservation portfolios. Pastoral systems, for instance, maintain critical habitat connectivity across arid regions, while traditional practices sustain biodiversity in human-altered areas.

The study calls for redefining conservation success beyond area metrics to prioritize species persistence, ecological connectivity, and social legitimacy. As climate change and human development intensify, Africa’s biodiversity will depend not on fences alone, but on collaborative, adaptive stewardship of shared landscapes where people and nature coexist.

 

Original Source

Luiselli, Luca. 2026. “Africa’s Biodiversity Will Not Be Saved by Protected Areas Alone,” Biological Diversity: 1–7.  

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bod2.70028

 

Keywords

Biodiversity conservation, protected areas, working landscapes, conservation policy, Africa

 

About the Author

Luca Luiselli (First author and corresponding author), tropical community ecologist and professor of ecology at the Institute for Development, Ecology, Conservation and Cooperation (IDECC), focuses on snake and chelonian conservation across West Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, and Vietnam. He adopts an interdisciplinary, holistic approach to study population dynamics, community ecology, species interactions, Ebola ecology, bushmeat trade, and rodent macroecology. He has published a total of 609 papers.

 

About the Journal

Biological Diversity (ISSN: 2994-4139) is a peer-reviewed, international, open-access journal sponsored by the South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and published in partnership with Wiley. Launched in 2024 and issued quarterly, it is dedicated to advancing biodiversity conservation, safeguarding ecosystem functions and services, and promoting the sustainable utilization of biological resources under global environmental change. The journal welcomes original research, reviews, commentaries, and short communications across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including botany, zoology, microbiology, taxonomy, phylogenetics, genomics, cytology, ecology, climatology, economics, sociology, and real-time policy theory. It publishes innovative research addressing pressing global challenges of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation.

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Journal

Biological Diversity

DOI

10.1002/bod2.70028 

Method of Research

Commentary/editorial

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Africa's Biodiversity Will Not Be Saved by Protected Areas Alone

Article Publication Date

24-May-2026

Warmer Temps, Heavier Owl Monkeys: Climate Linked To Weight Gain In Primates

May 25, 2026 

By Eurasia Review

Azara’s owl monkeys, a small primate species found in South America, are heavier today than those that lived a quarter-century ago, and evidence suggests that rising temperatures might have driven the weight gain, according to a Yale-led study of a wild population.

The study — the first to link climate change to weight changes in living primates — is based on 287 weight measurements of 180 owl monkeys collected between 1999 and 2023 in Formosa, Argentina. The researchers found that the monkeys were about 50 grams (1.8 ounces) heavier in 2023 than in 1999, an increase equivalent to 4% of the mean adult weight of 1,300 grams (2.87 pounds).

The weight gain coincided with a period when daily mean temperatures in the region increased by more than 1 degree Celsius. The researchers also found that that warmer temperatures in a monkey’s first year of life predict heavier weights when they’re older.

“We found that owl monkeys today weigh more, not less, than they did in 1999, even though average temperatures have increased since then,” said lead author Jonathan Pertile, a Ph.D. student in anthropology in the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. “That’s surprising because scientists have long thought that being lighter is an advantage in warmer temperatures because it helps the body shed excess heat.”


The finding that warmer temperatures in the animal’s first year of life predicts heavier weight later suggests that the amount of energy monkeys spend staying warm while young might limit their growth, he said.

The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Eduardo Fernandez-Duque, professor of anthropology in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and director of the Owl Monkey Project in Argentina, is the study’s senior author.

The finding conflicts with a longstanding ecogeographical principle known as “Bergmann’s rule,” which states that individuals of a warm-blooded species inhabiting colder climates have larger mean body sizes than their counterparts in warmer climates. The theory is based on the notion that lighter bodyweights offer an advantage to species in warmer climates due to more efficient thermoregulation — the ability of an organism to maintain a stable body temperature, the researchers said.

Azara’s owl monkeys are omnivorous, pair-living, and monogamous primates that inhabit the Gran Chaco region of Argentina, Paraguay, and Bolivia. The new findings are based on data collected by the Owl Monkey Project over 24 years from 180 owl monkeys at a field site on a privately owned cattle ranch in Formosa, Argentina.

The mean daily temperatures in the region over the course of the study period increased from 22.2 degrees Celsius in 1999 to 23.8 degrees Celsius in 2023, according to the study.

For the study, researchers weighed monkeys at three life stages: as young monkeys still attached to their birth groups, as solitary young adults competing for access to breeding positions within groups, and as adults that have acquired reproductive status within a group. They also measured the animals’ body lengths, from the crown of their skulls to the base of their tails. (Some individuals were measured repeatedly over the years.)

The research team analyzed several variables that could possibly explain the weight gain, including reproduction, which benefits from enhanced energy reserves provided by higher bodyweights, and increased availability of food. But according to their analysis, warmer temperatures during a monkey’s first year of life was the factor that best predicted heavier weights later in life, they said.



The researchers posit that the warmer temperatures required the young monkeys to spend less energy on thermoregulation, which allowed them to use extra calories to grow heavier.

While the monkeys got heavier, their body lengths remained steady. The calorie surpluses caused by warmer temperatures early in life may not translate into increased body length if the monkeys’ minimum energetic and nutritional requirements for development are already met, the researchers explained. In humans, a similar trend is illustrated by the flattened rate of increase of mean height in many economically developed populations.

“Our study offers insight into how physical traits in a species can change when you don’t have underlying changes to its genetics,” Pertile said. “Temperatures will continue to rise as climate change unfolds, and it’s important to understand the dynamics of how changing environmental factors will affect animals’ bodies. This study provides a good start to that work.”

Eric Sargis, professor of anthropology in FAS, is a coauthor of the study.

Monkey business: artist chimps paint in their own style, study shows

Several studies conducted in captivity have demonstrated that chimpanzees, like other great apes, enjoy painting and drawing. But new resreach led by French and Japanese primatologists has shown that they each have their own drawing style – and that it can evolve and improve over time.


Issued on: 24/05/2026 - RFI

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A group of chimpanzees at the Beauval zoo in France. © AFP - Alain Jocard

"Zamba draws nothing but dots. Loi sketches curves and triangles. Misaki fills the page with large fan-shaped patterns. These aren’t children in an art class. They are chimpanzees, and they each have their own style," writes ethologist Cédric Sueur on Instagram, sharing images of each chimp's distinctive art.

Sueur is one of four primatologists, three from France and one from Japan, who collaborated on a study published this month in the scientific journal Primates.

The colleagues analysed nearly 500 drawings produced by six chimpanzees at the Great Ape Research Institute, a sanctuary in southern Japan that takes in chimpanzees and bonobos that were once used as laboratory test subjects.

The team provided the animals with paper, paint and brushes. They were not trained to use them and weren't offered a reward for doing so.

By analysing 494 drawings over eight years, each piece dated and attributed, the researchers discovered that every chimpanzee has its own unique graphic signature, which evolves over time.

"Three dimensions structure the artwork of all individuals – the way they occupy space, the diversity of shapes, the richness of colours – exactly the same way as in orangutans and human children," Sueur says.

"These styles evolve over time: the chimpanzees increasingly fill the frame, diversify their shapes and develop more complexity."

Changing styles, colours

Researchers observed that the colourful fans that Misaki systematically drew took up more and more space on the page, for example. Their shapes became more intricate, the colours changed with the seasons and, much like in children’s drawings, their style refined itself over the years.

These changes may also reflect chimps' mood and energy levels. In winter, chimpanzees go out less and see fewer bright colours around them, Sueur posits.

"Their drawings change with the seasons, being less elaborate in winter, as if their inner state were leaving its mark on the paper," he writes.

Although the chimps' drawings were always abstract, never figurative, they seem to be influenced by what they see. One chimpanzee named Molly began painting in blue and yellow after being visited by Japanese schoolchildren wearing uniforms in those colours.

Ethologists are continuing their research to better understand what motivates animal artists such as chimpanzees, orangutans and elephants, who have been known to paint with their trunks.

This article was adapted from the original in French by RFI's Caroline Lachowsky.

 

Study reveals overlooked breadth of chimpanzee culture

A long-term study suggests chimpanzee culture includes many everyday behaviors essential for survival

Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior

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Infant chimpanzee (left) peering at the hands of a juvenile (right) engaging in ectoparasite inspection with a leaf.

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Credit: Nora Slania

Scientists have identified dozens of previously overlooked cultural behaviors in wild chimpanzees, suggesting that the great ape’s culture extends far beyond complex skills like tool use. In a single community, they found nearly 70 behaviors that chimpanzees appear to learn from one another—almost doubling previous estimates of cultural behaviors across African chimpanzee populations.

Researchers spent several years observing wild chimpanzees in the Ugandan rainforest to document the range of skills that chimpanzees learn by observing others. They discovered that chimpanzees culturally learn a wide array of “basic” skills including foraging, grooming, playing, and wound care, many of which are essential for survival.

“Animal culture doesn’t have to be rare or complex. It can include basic skills used every day, like finding food and knowing how to eat it,” says first author Nora Slania from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

Chimpanzees possess the largest known culture in the animal kingdom. Historically, chimpanzee cultural research has focused on striking behaviors such as using sticks to fish for termites, first famously documented by Jane Goodall in Gombe National Park. These behaviors were considered clear examples of culture, because neither genetic nor environmental factors could explain why some chimpanzee communities showed them and others did not. “Excluding genetic and environmental causes of behavioral variation was an important first methodological step to demonstrate social transmission and as such the existence of animal culture,” adds Slania.

Using this approach, previous research had identified 39 chimpanzee behaviors as cultural. But the new study suggests these earlier numbers may have greatly underestimated the true cultural breadth of chimpanzees. The researchers propose that cultural transmission can be shown through directly studying behaviors that are part of this process, irrespective of genetic and environmental influences.

“In humans, our everyday lives are full of culture, including the way we speak, dress, or eat. We don’t require behaviors to be especially remarkable or independent of our environment,” says Dr. Caroline Schuppli, senior author of the study. “Animals, however, have long been held to stricter standards. By adopting a more inclusive view of culture—and standards more comparable to those applied to humans—future research may reveal that many animals possess richer cultures than previously recognized.”

The team of international researchers focused on peering, which is when one animal watches the behavior of another closely and attentively. Peering is particularly well studied in orangutans and capuchin monkeys as a method of learning. In chimpanzees, peering had previously been shown to help individuals acquire complex skills such as using tools, but it has never been studied as a way for assessing the full scope of chimpanzee cultural learning.

For over two years, the research team followed 28 wild chimpanzees of all ages, from infants to older adults, at the Budongo Conservation Field Station in Uganda. From morning to late afternoon, they observed the daily lives of the apes in detail, recording the behavior of focal individuals as well as others within five meters. This allowed them to track what and whom chimpanzees observed closely.

The team accumulated over 1,000 hours of observations, finding 366 instances of peering. While they could not directly test whether peering caused learning, several patterns strongly suggest it plays a key role in knowledge acquisition. Chimpanzees peered during development, when they need to acquire their skill sets. Young chimpanzees paid special attention to learning-intensive behaviors, such as very rare and complex skills, and peered only at experienced chimpanzees, often their mothers but also – whenever they had the chance – at other group members.

When the researchers analyzed the behaviors that were the focus of peering, they identified 69 distinct actions. Only two of these – using leaves for wound care and to inspect parasites – had been recognized as cultural in earlier research. While some of the behaviors were rare, most observations comprised everyday activities such as exploring, playing, grooming, and feeding. Strikingly, the majority of behaviors— around 60%—were related to identifying, processing, or consuming food, including fruits, leaves, and other plant materials.

“The fact that so much of a chimpanzee’s diet is socially learned highlights how important social learning is for their development,” says Schuppli, a group leader at MPI-AB. “While some behaviors may be simple and learned quickly, acquiring the full range of their culture still takes young chimpanzees many years,” she adds.

The authors say that recognizing these broader cultural elements is important not only for understanding animal minds and how closely they resemble those of humans, but also for conservation efforts. In future, the team would like to extend this approach to other populations of chimpanzees and primates.

“Behavior allows animals to respond flexibly to the world around them, and cultural transmission offers a fast way to learn new behaviors. Ultimately, understanding the full scope of animal culture will help us protect the diverse ways these species adapt to changing environments,” adds Slania.

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Peering at grooming [VIDEO] 

Infant King (middle) peering at his mother Kutu grooming the adult female Janie, including the removal of a parasite with her mouth and stroking Janie’s fur for inspection.

Credit

Nora Slania

Journal

iScience

DOI

10.1016/j.isci.2026.115922 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Chimpanzee culture beyond the conspicuous: Evidence for broad-scale observational social learning in wild individuals

Article Publication Date

20-May-2026

 

Beyond black: Research explores the feather color of American crows — as seen by crows

Birds can see into the UV spectrum, which allows them to pick up on signals that the human eye cannot

Binghamton University

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Binghamton University Associate Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences Anne B. Clark

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Credit: Binghamton University

To understand birds — their social relationships, their choices, even their feathers — you need to understand the way they see the world.

That can be a challenging task, because birds and humans literally see their environments differently. Primates have three types of cone cells in their eyes, which provide the range of colors that we see; avians have four, explained Binghamton University Associate Professor Emerita of Biological Sciences Anne B. Clark.

“They actually see further into the UV (ultraviolet) range than we do,” Clark said. “That gives them a channel of communication that we may not detect.”

Research recently published in the Journal of Avian Biology takes an in-depth look at how crows see each other. Co-authored by Jessica Yorzinski of Texas A&M University’s Department of Conservation Biology and Binghamton’s Clark, “Inter- and intra-individual variation in the feather coloration of American crows” used a full-spectrum camera and visual modeling to analyze the plumage of 28 museum specimens from a crow’s visual perspective.

The feathers of melanistic birds, such as crows, haven’t been heavily studied by researchers. Unlike species such as fish crows or grackles, American crows aren’t known for iridescence, which, in black feathers, shows up as light refracted to create subtle purple or greenish hues. To human eyes, crows are difficult to tell apart: solid black, with no visual demarcation between males and females.

Research has shown that some bird species have feather patches that reflect UV light, perhaps to signal health status or biological sex; these include blue tits, a British species related to chickadees, as well as budgerigars, the small parakeets commonly kept as pets.

It turns out that crows lack UV-reflective patches, and that the sexes really do look the same, plumage-wise. However, the research in Yorzinski’s lab unearthed subtle changes that indicate age: On the sides, back and even under the tail, feathers changed in hue, both in the human visual range and in the UV or violet range as the birds reached the age of 3.

“There are many possible mechanisms. There may be a greater concentration of melanin, or changes in the feather structure,” Clark said.

The reasons behind the changing hue could be reproductive in nature. Under the age of 3, crows are typically unable to find mates or defend territory, Clark said. Attractive feathers may indicate the birds’ prime of life, health status, and resources to potential mates.

Some age-linked differences are apparent to the naked eye. Yearling birds have poor-quality feathers that tend to take on a brownish cast until they experience their first molt. And Clark, who researches crow populations, notes that elderly birds — 18 or 19 years old — tend to look their age, so to speak, when it comes to the condition of their feathers.

“There’s a sense that perhaps feathers get better and better, and then that falls off as they age,” Clark said. “Unfortunately, this should be familiar to most people; it gets harder to look great.”

How do crows tell each other apart? The experiment showed something else: Crows’ foreheads are even blacker than the rest of their plumage and don’t reflect the light. Crows are ground foragers, and these ultra-black feathers above their eyes may reduce glare in strong sunlight, essentially functioning like a baseball cap.

“It may help augment their vision and cut down on hyper-reflections from the ground,” Clark said. “That’s all hypothesis, but it runs across all of the crow species we have looked at.”

With the same black plumage, how do crows tell one another apart? Earlier research has shown that their calls are individually specific, functioning in the same way as human voices. Female crows tend to have higher voices than males, partly due to body size.

Crows also vary in body size and shape and have similarly diverse bills; the tips grow continuously, but the bill shape is stable nearer the base. One crow family that Clark has observed featured a member with a bill shaped almost like a Roman nose, while his mate had a petite, straight bill; their offspring exhibited one or the other.

Clark hypothesizes that, like humans, crows may also be able to recognize individuals by how they move — in their case, fly. One older crow, sitting in her territory at sunset, didn’t respond as other crows winged by overhead, returning home after a day of foraging. That is, until she saw one specific bird fly overhead; she perked up and apparently called a greeting, at which it looked down while in flight and replied, Clark recounted.

“Our recognition of the quality and identity of our social companions uses many sensory modalities,” Clark said. “What we’ve shown is that the black of a crow does vary and has information in it, even though it’s sexually monomorphic.”

About Binghamton University

Binghamton University offers students a broad, interdisciplinary education with an international perspective and one of the most vibrant research programs in the nation. The campus, recognized as an R1 institution for very high research activity by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, recorded $87.3 million in research expenditures in 2024-25, its best year ever.

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Journal

Journal of Avian Biology

DOI

10.1002/jav.03604 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

Inter- and intra-individual variation in the feather coloration of American crows

Ebola Outbreak Follows Hunger And Displacement Crisis In DR Congo

May 19, 2026 

By UN News


A day after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo an international emergency, top global disease transmission experts stressed that the chances of another global pandemic similar to the 2019 coronavirus emergency are increasing all the time.

“The world is not safer from pandemics”, said experts from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) on Monday, who underscored how the world’s vulnerability was exposed by an Ebola outbreak a decade ago and then by the “global catastrophe” of COVID-19.

“As infectious disease outbreaks become more frequent they are also becoming more damaging, with widening health, economic, political and social impacts, and less capacity to recover from them,” the experts said, in a new report.

Ebola update

Ebola disease is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates.

As of Saturday 16 May, health authorities had recorded eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths in Ituri province in eastern DRC.

On Sunday, unconfirmed reports indicated that an individual had tested positive for Ebola in the rebel-held city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province and home to one million people.

The confirmed case is believed to be the wife of a man who died after contracting Ebola in Bunia, capital of Ituri province. Another individual who had travelled from Bunia to Beni in North Kivu also tested positive for Ebola.

Cases have also been confirmed in the DR Congo capital, Kinshasa, and across the border in Uganda, where two infected individuals travelled from DRC and were admitted to intensive care. The Ugandan capital, Kampala, is also impacted, WHO said.

News reports late on Monday citing a medical missionary NGO in DRC said a doctor from the US had a confirmed case, with at least six US citizens exposed during the new outbreak, according to reports.

The agency is supporting the Government-led response with 42 health professionals on the ground and supplies already deployed.

The agency has warned that the outbreak is likely larger than currently detected, pointing to clusters of unexplained deaths, a high positivity rate among tested samples and limited understanding of transmission patterns. At least four deaths among healthcare workers have raised concerns over infection prevention measures in health facilities.

In a statement, the UN agency noted that there is no approved therapy or vaccine to treat the Bundibugyo virus which is responsible for the current outbreak.

“The ongoing insecurity, humanitarian crisis, high population mobility, the urban or semi-urban nature of the current hotspot and the large network of informal healthcare facilities further compound the risk of spread, as was witnessed during the large Ebola virus disease epidemic in North Kivu and Ituri provinces in 2018-19,” WHO said.

‘We know how to control Ebola’

“Ebola is a very serious disease, but it is one that we know how to control,” Mohamed Janabi, WHO’s Director for Africa, told UN News.

Dr. Janabi, a cardiologist, explained that the UN health agency has classified it as a public health emergency of international concern, which helps to bring international attention, mobilize resources more quickly and ensure countries work together in a coordinated way.

“But it does not mean people should panic. It means the global system is working as it should be, detecting and responding very decisively,” he added, calling on the media to disseminate correct information

“Fear by itself is an outbreak,” he concluded.

AI boon or bust

Highlighting the potential for AI to improve preparedness and monitor pandemic threats, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) emphasized that without effective governance and safeguards, technological innovations could actually reduce health security and widen the healthcare access gaps that defined COVID-19.

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) is an independent monitoring and accountability body established in 2018 by WHO and the World Bank – formally a specialized UN agency – to strengthen preparedness for global health crises.

The board highlights that that national leadership will be tested this year as governments work to finalize the WHO Pandemic Agreement – and work to agree “a meaningful UN political declaration on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response”.

Congo Ebola outbreak: WHO ‘deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic’

Copyright AP Photo/ Dirole Lotsima Dieudonne

By Marta Iraola Iribarren & with AP

Published on 19/05/2026 - EURONEWS

Congolese authorities say at least 131 deaths and 500 cases have been recorded in Congo Ebola outbreak.

The Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) will convene today to advise on temporary measures to tackle Congo’s new Ebola outbreak.

The outbreak in Congo and Uganda has been declared a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO.

“I did it in accordance with Article 12 of the International Health Regulations, after consulting the Ministers of Health of both countries, and because I am deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic,” Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO's Director-General, said during the World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday.

The outbreak, centred in the eastern province of Ituri, has caused at least 131 deaths and 500 cases, according to Congolese authorities.

Two cases, including one death, have also been reported in neighbouring Uganda among two people travelling from Congo.

“There are several factors that make us concerned about the potential for further spread and further deaths,” said Tedros.

First, he said, beyond the confirmed cases is the large number of suspected cases and deaths.

“These numbers will change as field operations are scaling up, including strengthening surveillance, contact tracing, and laboratory testing,” added Tedros.

Second, cases have been reported in densely populated urban areas, including Kampala and the city of Goma in the DRC, and third, deaths have been reported among health workers, indicating healthcare-associated transmission.

All of these factors, Tedros noted, are conditioned by significant population movements in the area.

The international health agency said that the outbreak does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency like COVID-19, and advised against the closure of international borders.

Related

• US to screen for Ebola at airports as European medics deploy to region

What is the Bundibugyo Ebola virus?

The Bundibugyo virus, which is causing the outbreak, is less common than other Ebola viruses, which is complicating the response because there are no specific treatments or vaccines.

“There’s nothing even close to ready for clinical trials," said Dr Celine Gounder, an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist who treated patients in West Africa during the 2014-2016 Ebola epidemic.

“And so that means responders, healthcare workers, and other aid workers are really back to the basics."

The virus is spread in the same ways as other Ebola viruses: through close contact with sick or deceased patients' bodily fluids, such as sweat, blood, faeces, or vomit. Healthcare workers and family members caring for sick patients face the highest risk, experts said.

“In the absence of a vaccine, there are many other measures countries can take to stop the spread of the virus and save lives, even without medical countermeasures, including risk communication and community engagement,” said Tedros.

Outbreak control relies on a range of interventions, such as clinical care, surveillance and contact tracing, laboratory services, infection prevention and control in health facilities, safe and dignified burials, vaccination where possible, and social mobilisation.

Congo outbreak killed 50 before it was detected

Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Dr Jean Kaseya said that slow detection delayed the response and gave the virus time to spread.

“This outbreak started in April. So far, we don’t know the index case. It means we don’t know how far is the magnitude of this outbreak,” he said, using a term for the first detectable case of an epidemic.

The earliest known suspected case, a 59-year-old man, developed symptoms on 24 April and died at a hospital in Ituri on 27 April.

By the time health authorities were first alerted to the outbreak on social media on 5 May, 50 deaths had already been recorded, the Africa CDC said.

WHO said at least four deaths have been reported among healthcare workers who showed Ebola symptoms.

INTERVIEW

DRC Ebola outbreak: 'Nobody has a grip on the numbers,’ top expert warns

An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed dozens and spread beyond the country’s borders, with Jean-Jacques Muyembe – the Congolese scientist who co-discovered the virus nearly 50 years ago – telling RFI that health authorities may have detected the epidemic too late and still do not know how far it has spread.


Issued on: 18/05/2026 - RFI

A health worker oversees temperature checks and hand washing at Kyeshero Hospital in Goma on Monday as authorities step up Ebola prevention measures following reports of a case in the eastern DR Congo city. AFP - JOSPIN MWISHA

The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, has already spread into neighbouring Uganda and prompted the World Health Organization to declare a “public health emergency of international concern” on Sunday.

Health officials say there is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the strain, while aid agencies warn that conflict, displacement and weak infrastructure are making it harder to trace contacts and isolate cases.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported 336 suspected cases and 88 deaths over the weekend, although only a small number of cases have so far been confirmed through laboratory testing.

'Uncertainties'

The WHO has warned there are still “significant uncertainties” about the true number of infections and how widely the virus may have spread. A case has also been reported in the eastern city of Goma, according to M23 rebels who control the city.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders has described the spread of the outbreak as “extremely concerning” and said it is preparing a large-scale response.

Emergency stocks of protective equipment had already been depleted in Kinshasa, with additional supplies being flown in from Kenya, the WHO said.

Meanwhile the International Rescue Committee warned that cuts in international donor funding had weakened disease surveillance in the region.

Armed conflict

The outbreak began in northeastern DR Congo near the borders with Uganda and South Sudan, in a region long affected by armed conflict and population displacement.

Health officials say the delayed detection of the outbreak may have allowed the virus to spread more widely before emergency teams were deployed.

WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the organisation first learned of suspected cases on 5 May, but laboratory confirmation only came nin days later.

The latest outbreak is the 17th recorded in DR Congo.

During the deadly 2018-2020 Ebola epidemic in the east of the country, health workers and treatment centres were repeatedly attacked by armed groups, while aid agencies struggled to gain the trust of local communities.

Muyembe, who now heads Kinshasa’s National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB), played a central role in managing that outbreak. He said local staff would again be essential because communities in affected areas were often suspicious of outsiders arriving from the capital, Kinshasa.

Congolese virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Kinshasa in March 2023. AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

How do you manage an Ebola outbreak in a region controlled by armed groups and affected by conflict?

Jean-Jacques Muyembe: We had this experience between 2018 and 2020, when we managed the outbreak in Mangina, Beni and Butembo. It was an enormous challenge – the greatest challenge of my life, working in an area filled with armed groups. But we always managed to find solutions so the work could continue under the best possible conditions.

During the outbreak in Beni and Mangina, we lost a WHO doctor who was killed. We also lost a nurse in Biakato after armed groups attacked the dormitory where our staff were sleeping in the middle of the night. Many people were killed or injured. It is extremely dangerous.

When I travelled there myself, I used an armoured vehicle because the road between Beni and Butembo was the most dangerous road in the world. You needed either an armoured vehicle or helicopters equipped with machine guns. That was during the Monusco period. Now I do not know how we will manage, but I think the minister will give instructions to use local staff.

Instead of bringing people from Kinshasa, where logistics are very complicated, it is better to work with local personnel so that communities trust us. Even we, coming from Kinshasa, were called foreigners.

So I changed strategy and recruited local young people and local staff to build trust with the population and work together with confidence.

RFI: There are concerns the outbreak could spread to Kinshasa because of air links with Bunia. A suspected case was reported there earlier in the outbreak. How worried are you about the risk of transmission to the capital?

JJM: The person who came from Bunia had travelled there for his father’s funeral. When news of the outbreak began to spread, he came voluntarily to the INRB to be tested. The test was negative. He remains under observation.

RFI: Given the spread of the outbreak and what is already known, what urgent action is needed to limit its progression?

JJM: Frankly, at this point nobody can give a figure. Nobody has a grip on the numbers. We cannot say how many cases there are, how many contacts, or how many deaths from Ebola. The teams are still working on it.

We are going to draw up a full list of all suspected cases and trace whether there are links between them. Then we will know exactly what the scale of the problem is. But right now there is panic because people are saying this is a new strain. In fact, it is not that new and it is not the deadliest strain.

International organisations need to avoid jumping to conclusions and wait for the first investigations to establish exactly when the outbreak began, how many cases there are and who the contacts are. Then we will begin to understand the true scale of the outbreak.

RFI: Despite the uncertainty surrounding the outbreak, you still believe it can be brought under control. What gives you confidence?

JJM: We have experience. We have faced this before. It will take time, but we will win.

This interview has been adapted from the original version in French and edited for clarity