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Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak: African Heads of State Convene Emergency Summit as DRC and Uganda Case Count Passes 856

KINSHASA / KAMPALA / ADDIS ABABA — 16 June 2026

African heads of state and government convened a high-level virtual summit on 16 June 2026, hosted by Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, to coordinate a continental response to the Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The outbreak, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern by WHO on 16 May 2026, remains the largest recorded Bundibugyo virus outbreak, with 837 confirmed cases and 196 confirmed deaths in DRC and 19 confirmed cases and 2 deaths in Uganda as of 17 June. Ituri Province accounts for 767 of the DRC total, with additional cases reported in North Kivu and South Kivu.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, speaking at the summit, called for the response to be African-led under a joint Incident Management Support Team operating alongside Africa CDC. He identified seven priorities endorsed by the summit, including unified planning under one budget, continued WHO-Africa CDC collaboration, investment in essential health systems alongside outbreak response, and the lifting of blanket travel bans he characterised as counterproductive. The summit followed his visit to Uganda on 8 and 9 June, during which he met President Yoweri Museveni and commended Uganda's rapid deployment of its Emergency Medical Team at Mulago Hospital's isolation facility, activated within six hours of the outbreak declaration. There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for Bundibugyo virus. WHO and Africa CDC are supporting DRC and Uganda in conducting clinical trials of candidate therapeutics MBP134, REGN3479, and the antiviral obeldesivir. The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations announced funding on 1 June to fast-track three vaccine candidates. Ten mobile laboratories are operating across the region, including in Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda and DRC, funded by the German government through KfW Development Bank.

Source: WHO Disease Outbreak News, WHO Regional Office for Africa, Africa CDC.