The World Health Organization’s director-general touched down in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital city, Thursday evening to observe response efforts against an outbreak of an uncommon strain of Ebola virus. Medical teams are battling equipment shortages, community skepticism, and violence from armed factions in an unstable area.
“To come here is to really show to the community that they’re not alone,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the airport.
“Pushing orders from my comfortable office in Geneva is easy, but I’m asking my colleagues to work with the community and I am asking communities to protect themselves,” he added.
The European Union delivered medical supplies to Ituri province, where Congo’s Ebola outbreak is centered, on Thursday. The same day, the United States pledged an additional $80 million in assistance, pushing its total contribution beyond $112 million.
Healthcare workers operating with limited resources have been fighting to control an outbreak of the Bundibugyo virus, an Ebola variant with no approved treatment or vaccine available. In certain locations, medical professionals have been forced to use outdated protective masks when caring for potential patients.
The WHO reports 1,077 suspected cases and 238 suspected deaths as of Tuesday.
Healthcare workers face increased risks due to community anger over strict medical procedures for handling victims’ remains, which conflict with traditional burial customs. Local residents have carried out at least three assaults on medical facilities.
Tedros noted that additional obstacles are making outbreak control more difficult, including large numbers of people forced from their homes by armed violence in the area, along with food shortages.
On Wednesday, he requested a ceasefire in an area where armed factions have conducted violent attacks for many years.
“We cannot build community trust or isolate the sick while bombs are falling,” Tedros said.
Located in northeastern Congo near the Ugandan border, Ituri province has suffered from attacks by the Allied Democratic Force, a rebel group allied with the Islamic State group, and a coalition of ethnic militias. In early May, the ADF killed at least 40 people and burned several homes in Ituri.
The disease has also appeared in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, south of Ituri, where the Rwanda-backed M23 rebel group controls many key cities, including Goma and Bukavu. The rebels have reported two cases.
The area’s primary airport in Goma, which also serves as a base for humanitarian operations in the region, has remained shut since January 2025, when M23 captured the city.
The fighting has created one of the globe’s most severe humanitarian emergencies, with at least 7 million people forced from their homes in eastern Congo.
The WHO leader said Thursday he opposes countries implementing travel restrictions against citizens of nations affected by the outbreak.
“There are ways to manage workers and to manage cases without having a strong, restricted travel ban and we don’t encourage that as WHO,” Tedros said.
The Trump administration announced a temporary prohibition last week on entry for people without U.S. passports, as well as U.S. green-card holders, who have visited Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days. It said Wednesday it plans to send Americans who are exposed to Ebola to a new facility in Kenya instead of flying them to the U.S. Congo’s neighbors, Uganda and Rwanda, recently closed their borders.
