Congo’s Ebola response is running out of masks, medicine and money as aid cuts cripple outbreak fight

The return of Ebola in eastern Congo is becoming more than a local health emergency. It is fast turning into a global warning about what happens when fragile health systems lose international funding, surveillance networks weaken and frontline hospitals are left to fight deadly outbreaks with almost no resources.

• Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak is exposing the growing global fallout from cuts to international health funding.
• Doctors and aid agencies say hospitals lack basic supplies including masks, gloves, medicine and transport for contact tracing.
• The outbreak has already recorded 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths in the conflict-hit Ituri province.
• Health experts warn delayed detection and weakened surveillance systems could allow the virus to spread further.

In the conflict-hit Ituri province, health workers say they are struggling to contain Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak without enough protective equipment, medicine or staff.

Some clinics reportedly lack basic gloves and masks. Others do not even have enough motorbikes to reach remote villages where suspected infections are emerging.

For communities already dealing with violence, poverty and displacement, the outbreak is creating a new layer of fear and economic disruption.

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on May 16 after the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola spread silently for weeks before being detected.

Authorities have so far recorded 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths, though aid agencies believe the true figures may be considerably higher because surveillance systems failed to identify the outbreak early.

A dangerous delay

The fact that Ebola circulated unnoticed for weeks has alarmed global health experts.

Unlike previous outbreaks where surveillance teams moved quickly, this response began late, allowing the virus to spread across communities before containment measures were activated.

Aid groups say one major reason is the weakening of health programmes previously funded by international donors.

“What we are starting to see in DRC, but in many places, is that surveillance is a lot of what USAID had supported,” said Maria Guevara, international medical secretary at Médecins Sans Frontières.

“We don’t have those surveillance capacities.”

The collapse or reduction of several foreign-funded health initiatives over the past year has become a growing concern across Africa, especially in countries facing conflict or weak public infrastructure.

Humanitarian groups warn that diseases like Ebola spread fastest where governments lack the money, logistics and personnel needed for rapid response.

Hospitals struggling to cope

In Bunia and surrounding communities, overstretched health workers say facilities were not prepared for another Ebola emergency.

“We are overwhelmed, we were not prepared to deal with an outbreak,” Sandrine Lusamba told Reuters, coordinator of local NGO SOFEPADI, which runs a hospital near Bunia.

According to Lusamba, suspected Ebola patients have already died at the facility while two nurses have fallen ill.

The hospital is now urgently seeking masks, gloves, thermometers, hand sanitiser and washing stations.

The Bundibugyo strain has no approved virus-specific treatment, making early isolation and supportive care critical. Patients are mainly treated with hydration, pain management and monitoring.

That requires equipment, staffing and logistics many local facilities currently lack.

Aid agencies dip into emergency reserves

Medical charities already operating in Ituri before the outbreak are now relying heavily on emergency stockpiles.

ALIMA, one of the first organisations to respond, says its contingency supplies allowed rapid deployment after the outbreak was confirmed. But officials warn those reserves are limited.

“We tapped into our contingency stocks,” said Mamadou Kaba Barry, ALIMA’s head of mission in Congo.

“The resources are far below what is needed today.”

The WHO has since airlifted 12 tonnes of medical supplies into affected areas and says more shipments are on the way.

Meanwhile, the United States announced support for up to 50 rapidly deployable treatment clinics in Congo and Uganda, where Ebola cases have also been reported.

The U.S. State Department said the move reflects Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to ensuring the outbreak response remains fully resourced.

The economic and regional risk

Beyond the immediate health danger, the outbreak is raising concerns about broader regional and economic consequences.

Eastern Congo sits near key trade and transport corridors linking parts of Central and East Africa. Any wider spread of Ebola could disrupt border movement, local commerce and already fragile supply chains.

During the 2014-2016 West African Ebola epidemic, more than 11,000 people died while several economies suffered billions of dollars in losses from reduced trade, travel restrictions and investor panic.

Congo itself is strategically important to global supply chains because of its vast reserves of cobalt and copper used in electric vehicles, batteries and modern electronics.

Health experts warn that if outbreaks continue emerging in underfunded regions with weak surveillance, future containment efforts could become far more expensive and difficult.

Fear spreads through daily life

For residents in Bunia, signs of panic are already becoming visible.

Markets are thinning out. Public caution is increasing. Face masks are returning.

Local resident Isabelle Mwendo said the seriousness of the outbreak only became clear after she noticed businesses and public places reacting differently.

“We first learned about it on the radio,” she told Reuters. “But when I went to the market, I realized that I was almost alone.”

She said she was later denied entry into a bank because she was not wearing a face mask.

Health workers are now racing to install more handwashing stations and expand tracing operations across difficult terrain, with WHO and UNICEF working to deploy additional motorbikes to help response teams reach isolated communities faster.

But with infections likely underreported and resources stretched thin, aid agencies fear the outbreak may already be ahead of the response.