The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has arrived in Kinshasa to engage with officials as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) grapples with its most severe Ebola outbreak in recent memory. The visit follows the country’s declaration of its 17th Ebola epidemic on May 15, weeks after the first cases were identified.
With over 100 million inhabitants spread across vast and often hard-to-reach regions, the DRC faces immense challenges in containing the virus. Health authorities had previously warned of the outbreak’s rapid escalation, describing the surge as unprecedented in speed and scale. The WHO has since called for an urgent and coordinated response to curb the spread.