People with Ebola symptoms avoid clinics because they know what happens there.
Over 200 suspected deaths and 900 probable cases reported since outbreak epicenter in Ituri; WHO declares international emergency for vaccine-resistant Bundibugyo strain. Armed groups M23 and ADF deliberately target hospitals, kidnap patients, and create climate of fear preventing people from seeking care despite Ebola symptoms.
- Over 200 suspected deaths and 900 probable cases in Ituri region; WHO declares international emergency
- M23 and Allied Democratic Forces have launched attacks on hospitals, burned treatment centers, kidnapped patients
- 7.3 million people displaced; 81,000 sexual assaults documented in 2025 alone
- Bundibugyo strain circulating has no vaccine; outbreak detected late, allowing weeks of undetected spread
The Democratic Republic of Congo faces a dual crisis as Ebola resurges in Ituri region while armed groups systematically attack health infrastructure, hampering medical response and forcing civilians to avoid treatment despite symptoms.
In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a virus has returned at the worst possible moment. More than 200 suspected deaths and 900 probable cases have emerged from Ituri, a region that borders Uganda and South Sudan, since the outbreak was first detected there. The World Health Organization has declared it an international emergency. The strain circulating now—Bundibugyo—has no vaccine. But the virus is only half the crisis.
Armed groups control much of the territory where the outbreak is spreading. The M23 militia, backed by Rwanda, and the Allied Democratic Forces, linked to ISIS, have spent decades fighting for control of the region's mineral wealth: cobalt, coltan, gold, diamonds. These resources finance the militias and fuel a conflict that has displaced 7.3 million people. The violence has created a landscape where health care is nearly impossible to deliver. In the first half of 2025 alone, M23 fighters launched six attacks on hospitals in Goma. They burned two treatment centers in the region. They kidnapped patients receiving care. The message was clear: seeking medical help is dangerous.
Itziar Ruiz-Giménez, a spokesperson for Amnesty International, describes the situation plainly: nearly three decades of armed conflict have left the civilian population exhausted and scattered. Without food, without shelter, without safety, the virus spreads faster. The region is also a hub of population movement tied to mining operations, which accelerates transmission. But the deeper problem is that people with Ebola symptoms avoid clinics. They know what happens there. According to Amnesty's research, based on interviews with 71 survivors in North Kivu, armed groups have tortured, kidnapped, enslaved, and sexually assaulted civilians. They have systematically destroyed health infrastructure. Medical centers operate in chronic crisis, short of workers and medicines. When the FDA and M23 attack daily, people stay home even when they are dying.
The sexual violence compounds everything. Between January and September of 2025, more than 81,000 rapes were documented in the DRC—a 31.5 percent increase from 2024. Ebola spreads through bodily fluids. Sexual violence is a vector. Ruiz-Giménez notes that 1.5 million women in the Congo have been raped in their lifetimes. With millions displaced and thousands more fleeing to neighboring countries, the conditions for epidemic are nearly perfect.
Humanitarian organizations are caught between the virus and the guns. Pablo Estévez, Africa director for the Red Cross, explains that his teams often cannot move without first negotiating with armed actors. Sometimes they have to pause operations entirely, waiting for dialogue to resume, hoping for permission to work. It is a negotiation conducted while people are dying. Estévez also notes that the outbreak was detected late—the virus had been circulating for weeks before anyone identified it. That delay means the true number of cases and deaths is likely much higher than reported.
Alan González, deputy operations director for Médecins Sans Frontières Switzerland, points out that Ituri presents challenges beyond the armed conflict. The region contains some of the most remote rural villages in the DRC. Populations have been displaced by fighting and scattered across difficult terrain. MSF has experience working in such places, but experience does not make it safe or simple. The organization must operate in a landscape where armed groups control access, where people fear medical facilities, and where a virus without a vaccine is spreading through a traumatized, displaced population. The outbreak is still accelerating. The detection was late. The numbers will rise.
Citas Notables
Nearly three decades of armed conflict have left the civilian population exhausted and scattered. Without food, without shelter, the virus spreads faster.— Itziar Ruiz-Giménez, Amnesty International
The outbreak was detected late—the virus had been circulating for weeks before anyone identified it. The true number of cases and deaths is likely much higher than reported.— Pablo Estévez, Red Cross Africa director
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does the armed conflict make Ebola harder to stop?
Because people won't go to hospitals. If armed groups attack clinics, kidnap patients, burn treatment centers, then someone with a fever thinks twice before seeking help. They might die at home instead of risking the clinic.
But surely people understand that Ebola is deadly?
They do. But they also understand that armed men are present. When you have to choose between a virus and a militia, the calculus changes. The virus might kill you. The militia will definitely hurt you.
The source mentions mining. What does that have to do with the outbreak?
Mining drives population movement. People migrate for work, they travel between camps and towns, they move through the region constantly. That movement spreads the virus faster. And the mining itself—the wealth it generates—funds the armed groups that make the region unstable.
So the conflict and the epidemic are connected?
They're inseparable. The conflict creates displacement, trauma, sexual violence, destroyed health systems. All of that makes people vulnerable to disease. The conflict also prevents aid organizations from reaching people. You can't fight a virus in a war zone.
What's the role of the international community?
Organizations like the Red Cross and MSF are trying to work, but they have to negotiate with armed actors just to move. They pause operations when fighting intensifies. The WHO declared an emergency, but an emergency declaration doesn't stop bullets or give you a vaccine for a strain that has none.
Is there any reason for hope?
The organizations working there have experience in difficult places. But hope requires either the conflict to pause or the armed groups to allow humanitarian access. Neither seems likely soon.