Concerns are growing that Ebola is spreading in displacement camps due to aid cuts and poor sanitation.
Seventeen healthcare workers have succumbed to Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), pushing the total death toll over 200 amid an outbreak that is overwhelming a healthcare system crippled by years of conflict and underfunding.
A senior official from the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed the rising death toll and noted that 75 healthcare workers had contracted the virus since Congolese officials announced the outbreak on May 15.
Marie Roseline Belizaire, WHO’s emergency director, described the situation as “serious” and noted the rapid evolution of the outbreak.
She remarked that the healthcare system is paying a “really high price” because there simply aren’t enough healthcare workers in the DRC. Belizaire was speaking to reporters via video from the heart of the outbreak in eastern DRC.
Health officials suspect the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola had been circulating for months before the official announcement, leaving medical personnel vulnerable before they were even aware of the virus. Currently, essential protective gear like gloves and masks is still in critically short supply, making it challenging for healthcare facilities to contain the infection.
According to WHO figures, the DRC has one of the lowest ratios of healthcare workers to population globally, with just about 11 health workers for every 10,000 people. To aid the response, Belizaire mentioned that China and Uganda are sending medical teams to assist.
The WHO is also offering psychological support to healthcare workers worried about treating patients after seeing colleagues fall ill. “Hearing their experiences… can be heartbreaking,” she added.
The peak of the outbreak is still to come
Congolese authorities reported on Thursday that the outbreak has claimed 232 lives and infected 896 individuals across 31 health zones in the country.
Nearly $1 billion has been pledged by African Union member states to address the emergency in eastern DRC and Uganda, which has reported 19 cases and two fatalities.
Health officials caution that the outbreak has yet to reach its peak. The situation is troubling in camps for displaced individuals, where overcrowding and inadequate sanitation may allow the virus to spread unnoticed.
In Kigonze camp in Bunia, the epicenter of the outbreak, at least 30 people have died since early May, a rate camp officials have described as unprecedented.
Authorities struggled to confirm these deaths, as many patients and their families had refused testing until recently, according to a camp spokesperson and the aid organization Caritas.
However, witnesses indicated that the deceased exhibited symptoms commonly associated with Ebola, such as headaches, fever, and vomiting.
“People didn’t just die like this before,” stated Desire Grodya Bapi, a camp spokesperson.
Kigonze is home to over 15,000 residents, and the increasing death toll has raised alarms about the potential spread of Ebola among the five million displaced individuals in eastern DRC.
Funding cuts have exacerbated the crisis, according to aid workers. Financial support for crucial water, hygiene, and sanitation programs—essential to combatting the disease—has been reduced, especially under the Trump administration in the United States.
UN data reveals that funding for toilets and handwashing stations in the DRC fell more than half between 2024 and 2025 to about $38 million, and this year’s $80 million appeal is only 21 percent funded.
With countless displacement camps, some housing as many as 100,000 people, Ebola fatalities have already been confirmed in another camp in Ituri province, which accounts for over 90 percent of the nearly 900 confirmed cases.
