Central Africa has extensive experience dealing with Ebola. Both Uganda and the DRC have faced multiple localized outbreaks in the past decade and have successfully contained and ended them. Medical professionals on the ground are familiar with these situations and have real expertise in responding.
But politics play a role in infectious disease response, as was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The DRC is no different, and public confidence in governing authorities is particularly fragile right now, as President Félix Tshisekedi flirts with a third term in office; large swaths of eastern territory remain under the control of M23, a Rwandan-backed Congolese insurgent group; and murky security-for-minerals deals fuel uncertainty and suspicion.
On social media, conspiracy theories abound, suggesting the outbreak is a distraction, a hoax, a money-making scheme, or a pretext for some other nefarious agenda. The profound mistrust of authorities and of outsiders that permeates Congolese society after generations of exploitation creates a particularly difficult backdrop for this Ebola response.
All of this is unfolding in the context of profound insecurity. Eastern Congo has been plagued by conflict for decades, and scores of armed groups operate in the region, as do foreign military forces from Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. Nearly one million people in Ituri, where the outbreak is worst, are displaced. Transportation and communications infrastructure is poor. It is not an environment in which it is easy to quickly establish new facilities, distribute health-care supplies, or even obtain accurate, timely information about what is happening in different communities.
Until last year, the USAID was part of a time-tested system for dealing with Ebola.
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 20, 2026
In its absence, a dozen former federal employees tell NBC News that the U.S. response to the growing outbreak has been slow and disjointed. https://t.co/IYVqQSknjE
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