A health worker instructs a local resident to wash their hands in Rwampara, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on 16 May, amid the Ebola outbreakXinhua/Shutterstock
Vaccines for a suite of lethal viruses – including the one behind the unfolding Ebola emergency – must be developed urgently, warn epidemiologists. They also caution that while the global pandemic potential of Ebola is minimal, the outbreak highlights the perils of funding cuts at the World Health Organization.
The US began withdrawing funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) in early 2025, which forced the organisation to slash its budgets for 2026/27. “The key here is that the WHO is now greatly underfunded and they’ve had to shed huge numbers of staff,” says Adrian Esterman at Adelaide University, Australia. “So I think that the message here is that America leaving the WHO has been disastrous, basically.”
The WHO was made aware of an outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on 5 May. Cases have now also been reported in Uganda.
“The first currently known suspected case, a health worker, reported onset of symptoms including fever, haemorrhaging, vomiting and intense malaise on 24 April 2026,” according to the WHO. On 17 May, the organisation declared the crisis in the DRC and Uganda to be a public health emergency of international concern.
