On May 15, the World Health Organization reported an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola virus disease in Ituri province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The next day, it declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. Since then, it has been reported in other provinces of the DRC, and there have been confirmed cases reported in Uganda. The Bundibugyo strain is not fully covered by vaccines developed that protect against the Zaire strain of Ebola—which was responsible for the 2014–2015 West Africa outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people—meaning it could be even more dangerous, since even vaccinated people are vulnerable.
The outbreak is especially concerning because it appears to have spread for several months before being recognized, meaning the current caseload may underestimate the true scale of transmission. It is the fastest-growing outbreak ever, and has now become the second-largest in history. It also is unfolding in a difficult context marked by conflict, population displacement and porous borders, increasing the risk of transmission of the disease.
International Medical Corps has mobilized multiple rapid response teams that include trained medical staff, infection-control specialists, case management leads and staff skilled in community engagement and supply-chain management. Drawing on our years of experience, our teams on the ground are working closely with the US Department of State, ministries of health and local partners both within the DRC and in neighboring countries to provide care, procure critical supplies and conduct the training needed to fight this dangerous disease.
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We set up and are running screening-and-referral units, or SRUs, which are the first line of defense when it comes to detecting and stopping the spread of Ebola. Often located in frontline health centers and communities, SRUs are where health workers rapidly identify suspected cases, safely triage patients and minimize transmission of the deadly disease. People who have fevers or other symptoms of Ebola can then be transferred from SRUs to Ebola Transit Centers, where suspected cases are isolated and receive supportive treatment while awaiting laboratory diagnosis. We currently have set up and are supporting a number of transit centers located a health centers in affected provinces.
When a patient is confirmed to have Ebola, they are transferred to an Ebola Treatment Center, or ETC, where they are isolated and receive appropriate treatment by trained and properly outfitted staff in a controlled environment. There currently are no therapeutic treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, so patients infected with this strain receive a range of supportive treatments, including fluid and electrolyte replacement, and medications to reduce fever, manage pain, and control vomiting and diarrhea. The earlier that patients seek such care, the better the outcome. We are providing care at a number of ETCs in the DRC, including the country’s largest.
Because Ebola is so contagious, it is extremely important that health staff protect themselves while caring for patients. This requires that they follow strict infection-prevention and control (IPC) practices while fully outfitted in personal protective equipment (PPE). Because the virus can live on surfaces and equipment as well as be passed along by people, IPC involves following comprehensive cleaning and disinfection practices on such areas, often using a 0.5% chlorine solution. Proper PPE includes such items as gowns, aprons, head covers, face masks, goggles, gloves and boots that must be properly fitted while putting them on (donning) and carefully handled while taking them off (doffing). Because outbreaks of Ebola typically occur in hot, humid environments, healthcare workers must take care to limit their time in PPE so they don’t overheat. Our teams are procuring tens of thousands of pieces of PPE each month to ensure that health staff have the supplies they need.
Many of the areas in the DRC that this outbreak of Ebola has affected experience large population movements due to conflict and economic activity. Poverty is widespread, and access to functioning health facilities is low. Widespread distrust of the government and misinformation, as well as cultural beliefs, have reduced health-seeking behavior and even led to attacks on healthcare facilities and workers. Consequently, a large part of International Medical Corps’ response to Ebola involves risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) activities that strengthen surveillance systems, facilitate early referrals and build trust. During these RCCE sessions—which include door-to-door awareness visits, visits to marketplaces, small-group discussions and community dialogue sessions—we meet with community members and leaders to talk about how to prevent Ebola, why it’s important to seek medical attention when experiencing symptoms, safe and dignified burial practices and how to best protect families from the disease.
We also provide extensive training to healthcare workers on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of Ebola, and to strengthen their ability to detect, isolate, clinically manage and safely refer suspected cases of Ebola and other diseases, working closely with Ministry of Health and other officials to ensure compliance with national preparedness and response protocols. And because other health needs persist during Ebola outbreaks, we strengthen local health systems by providing the training, equipment and medical supplies needed to meet community health needs.
Fear, grief and stigma surrounding Ebola continue to affect patients, families and frontline health workers in the DRC, while misinformation has fueled community tensions, demonstrations and, in some cases, attacks on healthcare workers and ETCs. That’s why International Medical Corps integrates mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) with our community engagement activities—helping people to cope with the emotional impact of the outbreak while addressing misinformation and maintaining access to lifesaving care.
Our teams provide a wide range of MHPSS services, including psychological first aid for those affected by the crisis. We also train healthcare and community workers to recognize and respond to mental health needs, strengthening the ability of caregivers to support affected populations. In addition, we provide psychosocial support to patients during treatment and after discharge while providing care for families and frontline workers coping with the ongoing stress and challenges of the response.
Although South Sudan has not reported any confirmed Ebola cases, its proximity to the DRC places border communities at continued risk. International Medical Corps is strengthening the country’s preparedness and response capacity by expanding its network of infectious disease units (IDUs), helping ensure rapid detection, isolation and treatment should Ebola cross the border.
Our efforts include expanding the IDUs in Juba and Nimule and establishing new units in Maridi and Yambio. In addition to improving infrastructure at the IDUs, we are equipping facilities with medicines, medical equipment and other essential supplies while providing training for healthcare workers and frontline personnel. We also are supporting the investigation of suspected Ebola cases, and helping strengthen surveillance systems and preparedness measures that can quickly identify and respond to potential cases.
In Uganda, International Medical Corps is working with a trusted local partner to strengthen screening, surveillance, community-based disease detection and IPC measures in high-risk border districts. Although all confirmed cases in the country were linked to people who had traveled from the DRC and no community transmission has been documented, proactive prevention efforts remain critical.
Our teams are supporting screening activities at key points of entry, investigating and verifying disease alerts, and strengthening health facilities in the districts of Bundibugyo and Ntoroko. We also are training healthcare workers and frontline personnel on IPC protocols and working closely with communities through village health teams to raise awareness about Ebola prevention, early detection and safe health-seeking behaviors. Together, these efforts help strengthen preparedness and reduce the risk of further spread.
Since 2018, the DRC has frequently suffered from outbreaks of Ebola virus disease, a hemorrhagic fever with an alarmingly high mortality rate. Given our experience helping to lead the response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, International Medical Corps has been a key player in responding to these outbreaks.
We were called on in April 2018 to help the DRC fight an outbreak in Équateur province, in the country’s west. When that outbreak, the country’s ninth, was declared over in July of that year, a resurgence was close behind. On August 1, 2018, a new outbreak was declared in the country’s eastern provinces that would grow to become what was at the time the second-largest Ebola outbreak ever, exceeded in size only by the 2014 outbreak in West Africa—and now by the 2026 outbreak. After almost two years, thanks to the persistence and skill of our staff and other healthcare workers in the region, the end of the outbreak in this region was officially declared over on June 25, 2020. When the 10th outbreak in the east was officially declared over, 3,470 cases had been reported (including 3,324 confirmed and 153 probable cases), with 2,287 deaths and 1,171 survivors, according to DRC Ministry of Health data.
Celebration was muted, however: at the beginning of June of that year, the government announced a new outbreak—the country’s 11th—back in in Équateur province. As with other outbreaks, International Medical Corps deployed a rapid response team to support response efforts by the DRC Ministry of Health and the WHO, and ran Ebola Treatment Centers (ETCs) in the region. We also helped with treatment, IPC, screening, training and capacity-building. After this outbreak was officially declared over on November 18, 2020, we continued supporting regional health authorities during a 90-day period of heightened surveillance.
In the beginning of February 2021, another resurgence of the deadly disease occurred. Luckily, we were able to draw on previous work to battle this outbreak, the country’s 12th. As part of our efforts to expand local response capacity in the region, we built, opened and operated an ETC in Makeke (which we transitioned to a hospital for the community); operated Ebola Transit Centers in Beni and Mambassa; and operated an ETC in Mangina, the initial epicenter of the outbreak. In addition to providing treatment, vaccination and contact tracing during this last outbreak—officially declared over on May 3, 2021—International Medical Corps constructed nearly 100 screening-and-referral units throughout the region.
The country’s 13th outbreak, which emerged in North Kivu in early October 2021, was officially declared over in mid-December of that year. International Medical Corps provided case management services, training, and supplies and equipment to healthcare providers in the region, working closely with the Ministry of Health, local health officials and the international community. When several smaller outbreaks followed, we were able to help to contain them quickly.
In September 2025, an outbreak was declared in remote Kasai province. We rapidly deployed a response team to help with this outbreak by providing critical training and supplies to local health staff, coordinating closely with government efforts. Thanks to this quick response, the government was able to declare this outbreak—the country’s 16th—over by December of that year.
International Medical Corps has extensive experience and expertise in stopping the spread of Ebola, having responded in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Guinea-Bissau in the wake of the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, the world’s largest. We served as a key implementation partner for the World Health Organization, fielding a team of more than 1,500 and treating nearly 460 Ebola-positive patients in our five treatment centers. We helped host governments prevent further transmission of the virus, provided critical training to frontline health workers—and, importantly, stayed after the outbreak to continue to build local health systems and provide mental health and psychosocial counseling to those affected by the deadly disease. Find out more about our response during this dangerous time.
On May 15, the World Health Organization and the Africa Center for Disease Control reported an outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Ituri province, DRC. A highly contagious hemorrhagic fever, EVD halts the body’s blood-clotting system, causing blood to leak from blood vessels in an affected person’s body and leading to internal bleeding, inflammation and loss of fluid. Untreated, the body goes into shock from fluid loss. Death often follows.
Tests show that the outbreak is a result of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola. Though slightly less fatal than the Zaire strain—which was most recently present in the DRC’s Kasai province in 2025, and which was responsible for the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak that killed more than 11,000 people—the Bundibugyo strain is not fully covered by vaccines developed that protect against Ebola Zaire, meaning it could be even more dangerous, since those who have received the vaccine still vulnerable to contracting and dying from the virus. There have only been two previous outbreaks of Bundibugyo: in Uganda in 2007 and in DRC in 2012. Given the number of cases and deaths, this outbreak has already become the third-largest in history.
Ituri, where the outbreak was initially detected, is a province in the northeast of the country that borders South Sudan and Uganda. It is a mineral-rich region with a history of instability and violent conflict, usually driven by control over mines. North Kivu and South Kivu, where further cases have been confirmed, also are plagued by conflict. The instability in the northeast and east of DRC, combined with the region’s proximity to neighboring countries, further increases the risk of transmission and cross-border infection.
In fact, since the initial outbreak was detected, this outbreak has spread across the border to Uganda, which has reported confirmed cases and deaths. There also is a risk of Ebola spreading into Burundi, South Sudan and Rwanda.
International Medical Corps’ team in the DRC is conducting disease-treatment, surveillance and infection-prevention activities in the provinces, and providing training to healthcare staff. International Medical Corps also is distributing essential infection-prevention and hygiene supplies to health facilities—including handwashing stations, personal protective equipment (PPE), water basins, liquid soap and jerry cans—to ensure that trained staff have the resources they need to prevent the transmission of disease.
We are working in Uganda to respond through a partner in our LEARN initiative, while in at-risk countries like South Sudan we are working with the Ministry of Health on operational readiness, preparedness capacities and potential response considerations.
Support is urgently needed to strengthen International Medical Corps’ ability to respond to this Ebola outbreak during this time-sensitive period. Immediate procurement of appropriate supplies—such as PPE, IPC equipment, pharmaceuticals for patient support and WASH supplies—is needed, as well as support for key personnel throughout the region who are responding to the outbreak and conducting training.
We have extensive experience and expertise in stopping the spread of Ebola, having responded in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Mali and Guinea-Bissau in the wake of the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic, which killed thousands of people. With a team of more than 1,500 staff, we treated a total of nearly 460 Ebola-positive patients in our five treatment units, helped governments prevent further transmission of the virus, provided critical training to front-line health workers—and, importantly, stayed after the outbreak to continue to build local health systems as well as provide mental health and psychosocial counseling to those affected by the deadly disease. We also have been a leading actor in EVD response and management in the DRC since 2018, including multiple outbreaks between then and 2022, as well as the 2025 outbreak in Kasai province.
After 28,000 cases and 11,000 deaths, the West Africa Ebola outbreak—the largest and deadliest in history—officially ended in late 2015 when Guinea was finally declared Ebola-free after two years of fighting the virus. One of the few international NGOs to treat patients afflicted with the virus at the source of the 2014 outbreak in West Africa, we worked in all three high-transmission countries—Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia—and cared for nearly 460 Ebola-positive patients through five Ebola treatment facilities.
Read more about our response