An Ebola outbreak devastating eastern Congo and Uganda has claimed more than 200 lives in its first month, with 894 confirmed cases representing a 38% surge since last week, yet less than 10% of pledged international funding has materialized as contact tracing reaches only a fraction of those exposed, Africa's Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
The outbreak, confirmed on May 15 after weeks of suspected transmission, is now the worst known outbreak at this stage and three times worse than a previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000, which had 281 cases at the same point, according to Dr. Wessam Mankoula, a medical epidemiologist at Africa CDC. The latest case count is believed to be higher because of the delay in confirmation.
A Perfect Storm of Challenges
The outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccines or treatments and was not tested for in the early days. The more common Zaire virus, for which there is a vaccine, was responsible for most of Congo's past 16 outbreaks of the disease. So far 74 patients have recovered from the disease across eastern Congo and Uganda, and experimental treatments like monoclonal antibodies are being developed for Bundibugyo.
The outbreak is concentrated in Congo's eastern province of Ituri, which accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and have spread across the border to Uganda, where 19 confirmed cases have been reported and two people have died. The outbreak is now in 32 health zones across eastern Congo.
Contact Tracing Falls Dangerously Short
Contact tracing remains an issue because of the area's remoteness and ongoing insecurity in Ituri province, Mankoula said. For those 800 confirmed cases, there should be between 17,000 and 35,000 contacts on the contact list, but currently only around 4,000 contacts have been tracked and are being evaluated, less than 15%. "We are still far from controlling the situation of this outbreak," Mankoula said.
Nearly a million people have been displaced by years of conflict in Ituri, according to the U.N. humanitarian office, making contact tracing difficult as people flee attacks or move frequently in the vast province with dense forests, poor roads and remote villages that can take days to reach. Tracing is also difficult among the thousands of miners who regularly move among remote sites in the mineral-rich region.
Funding Crisis Undermines Response
Of the more than $900 million pledged to fight the outbreak, only $90 million has been released, Mankoula said. Africa CDC estimates it needs 540 personnel to fight the outbreak and so far only 84 have been deployed. "We're keeping our fingers crossed those new pledges will be fast tracked, and we'll be following up with different member states and different partners about their commitment to turn those pledges into actual money released to their affected countries or partners," Mankoula said.
Why This Matters:
The gap between international pledges and actual funding reveals how vulnerable communities bear the cost of broken commitments during health emergencies. With only 10% of promised resources delivered and less than one-sixth of needed personnel deployed, the outbreak threatens populations already devastated by conflict and displacement. The failure to rapidly mobilize resources for contact tracing—reaching less than 15% of necessary contacts—allows the virus to spread unchecked through communities with minimal health infrastructure. Nearly a million displaced people in Ituri lack the stability and protection needed to escape infection, while inadequate roads and remote geography compound institutional failures. Without immediate international action to honor funding commitments, the death toll will continue rising among populations who have endured years of insecurity and now face a virus for which no approved treatment exists.