DRC: MSF strengthens community buy-in for Ebola response amid rapid rise in cases
MSF calls for an urgent scale-up of the international medical response in Ituri province, the epicentre, as the outbreak spreads at an alarming rate
Two months after the Ebola disease outbreak was officially declared in DRC, with more than 2,000 confirmed cases and 750 deaths, Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is calling for an urgent scale-up of the medical response. The epidemic continues to spread at an unprecedented pace and into new areas, while efforts to control it remain insufficient.
“Every delay costs lives. We are still chasing the outbreak instead of staying ahead of it. More people become infected, more families lose loved ones, and the epidemic becomes harder to contain. We need stronger, more coordinated international action to move faster and improve access to both Ebola care and other essential health services,” says Trish Newport, MSF Emergency Program Manager.
In just two months, the current Ebola disease outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, has become the third largest Ebola outbreak and the fastest growing on record. In less than five weeks, the number of confirmed cases has tripled, from 650 to more than 2,000 as of 12 July, while the number of deaths has increased more than fivefold, from 130 to over 700. The epidemic has already exceeded half the number of cases recorded during DRC’s 2018–2020 Ebola outbreak, which lasted almost two years.
The situation is particularly alarming, as the outbreak continues to expand geographically. Limited access to medical care, an overstretched surveillance system, and increasing pressure on treatment centres mean that entire communities outside of major urban areas remain without adequate support.
MSF is therefore calling on health authorities and humanitarian actors to swiftly increase resources across all aspects of the Ebola response, including community engagement, surveillance, testing and diagnosis, patient care, survivor support, and the safe and dignified management of bodies and burials, while ensuring that other urgent health needs are also addressed.
Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, accounts for approximately 90 per cent of all confirmed cases.
“In Mongbwalu, we are seeing the deadly human consequences of these gaps every day,” says Ayokunnu Raji, medical doctor and MSF Medical Program Manager. “At the Ebola Treatment Centre, we continue to see patients arriving in critical condition, little chance of survival. Since MSF started its Ebola response activities, we have treated 57 survivors, but more than 110 patients have died. Increased national and international resources would help prevent further transmission and loss of life.”
“In Bunia, the 90-bed Elikiya Ebola Treatment Centre is almost always operating at full capacity. People regularly tell us they prefer to wait at home and come only when a bed becomes available,” says Sylvie Kaczmarczyk, MSF Emergency Coordinator in Bunia. “As a result, we continue to receive patients who arrive late and are already critically ill. It is devastating to know that many of these deaths could have been prevented through earlier diagnosis and timely access to care and treatment.”
While other medical organisations are working alongside the Ministry of Health in eastern DRC, significant gaps remain.
DRC’s surveillance system is designed to detect cases early through strong community networks and the local health system. However, the current Ebola disease outbreak, combined with multiple other disease threats, has pushed the system to its limits.
The key to slowing and ultimately stopping the spread of the epidemic is to bring the response closer to communities while boosting the medical response and surveillance system, so that cases can be identified and isolated as early as possible. Efforts to expand testing, contact tracing and community engagement must also continue.
Movement restrictions, including border closures, self-monitoring requirements, and measures affecting humanitarian personnel applied by authorities in DRC and other countries, are creating additional challenges for the deployment and rotation of specialised Ebola staff.
MSF currently runs seven ETCs and more than 15 isolation units across Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu and Tshopo provinces, with a combined capacity of more than 430 beds. Since the beginning of the outbreak and up to 14 July, MSF teams had admitted more than 968 patients, including 357 confirmed cases. MSF has also supported the recovery of 116 survivors following treatment and care. In addition, MSF supports the Ministry of Health with surveillance and detection activities, community engagement, training, and efforts to ensure safe access to other essential healthcare services.
The Ebola outbreak is unfolding in a context of armed conflict, displacement and multiple concurrent health emergencies. Insecurity continues to restrict access to some communities, while MSF teams are simultaneously responding to other urgent medical needs, including cholera and malaria. The approaching rainy season is also expected to drive a surge in malaria cases, placing further strain on an already overstretched health system.
It is crucial to accelerate efforts to improve access to Ebola care while ensuring the provision of other basic humanitarian assistance, including healthcare, water and sanitation.
“We cannot continue responding to the epidemic with the same limited resources while it continues to outpace us,” says Newport. “Only a robust, adequately resourced medical response that truly reflects the scale of needs on the ground can prevent this outbreak from becoming a crisis beyond our ability to contain. To achieve that, expanded international support is urgently needed.
Read more about our activities in DRC20260717_Ebola_Two months_PR.docx
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20260715-MSF opens a new Ebola treatment centre in North Kivu.docx
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MSF teams are finalising the renovation of an Ebola Treatment Centre in Munigi, Goma. Photographer: Tracy Makhlouf | Location: DRC| Date: 27/05/2026
Hospital staff are washing medical staff PPE in the isolation center of Butembo endorsed by MSF. Photographer: Paul Lorgerie | Location: DRC| Date: 03/07/2026
Jane Rabothata
About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)
Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.
In South Africa, we currently run a non-communicable diseases (NCDs) project in Butterworth, Eastern Cape province, where we support the Department of Health (DoH) in improving care for patients with diabetes and hypertension. The project focuses on improving screening, diagnosis, management, and prevention of NCDs through advocacy, research, health promotion, training, and mentorship of Community Healthcare Workers.
MSF is also recognised as one of the pioneers in providing antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the public sector. It started the first HIV programme in South Africa in 1999. The organisation's earlier interventions in the country have primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis (TB) in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape). The Eshowe project was handed over to DoH in 2023 after 12 years of operations. The Khayelitsha project was closed in 2020 after 22 years of activities and campaigning for improved HIV and TB treatment.
Other projects we have been involved in include our Migrant Project in the country's capital, Tshwane, which was handed over to authorities and a local Community-Based Organisation after building the capacity to work with undocumented populations. We also previously offered free, high-quality, and confidential medical care to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Rustenburg, North West province.
To learn more about our work in South Africa, please visit this page on our website (www.msf.org.za). To support MSF’s work:
- SMS “JOIN” to 42110 to donate R30 Once-off
- Visit https://www.msf.org.za/donate
