Hard to believe it, but a few years on from the worst global pandemic in more than a century, our world is ignoring an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that is breaking records by the week, claiming thousands of victims, and killing nearly half of them at speed.
The deadly virus first discovered there exactly 50 years ago has killed more than 2,000 people, a death toll reached almost three times faster than the outbreak a decade ago that was the worst in history.
This week, the director general of the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it was on track to become the deadliest ever outbreak of the disease.
This outbreak started in February but went almost unnoticed until it was declared on 15 May. “What’s terrifying is that the virus is way ahead of us,” an old UN colleague told me. They are now working to co-ordinate UN resources, but admitted: “We are chasing the virus.”
“This time the world is paying little or no attention,” they said. “Instead, at every turn you see how the cuts in international aid are dramatically limiting what we can do.”
