Geneva – World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially declared the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The Director-General of the organisation, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, determined that the Ebola disease caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain constitutes a global health emergency, though it does not currently meet the criteria for a pandemic emergency. According to health authorities, the primary objective of this declaration is to place neighbouring countries on high alert and to mobilise necessary financial and logistical support from the international community.

The epidemiological situation indicates significant transmission across regional borders. In the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which shares borders with both Uganda and South Sudan, health officials recorded eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths across at least three distinct health zones. Concurrently, Uganda confirmed two laboratory-recorded cases within its capital city, Kampala, including one fatality. These two cases involved individuals arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo, with no clear epidemiological link established between them within a twenty-four-hour period.

Ebola remains a severe infectious disease transmitted through direct physical contact and bodily fluids. Data from the Robert Koch Institute indicates that the mortality rate for the disease can reach up to ninety per cent if infected individuals do not receive immediate medical treatment. Historically, the disease has caused severe regional crises, including an outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2015 that resulted in more than eleven thousand deaths. The most recent wave of infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo occurred previously in Kasai province, where forty-five people died in what was documented as the sixteenth outbreak of the disease since 1976.