WHO, Africa CDC Launch $518M Ebola Response as Outbreak Kills 103 with No Approved Treatment for Bundibugyo Strain

The World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention are launching a $518 million joint emergency response to the current Ebola outbreak. The six-month plan will remain in effect until November and follows a “One-Response” approach under which all partner organizations use the same guidelines for coordination, research, and community engagement.

The response complements national emergency plans already issued by Congo and Uganda.

A CDC update released June 8 recorded 101 confirmed deaths in Congo and two in Uganda, with more than 94 percent of cases located in Congo’s Ituri province. The outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. No approved drugs target this strain, which carries a fatality rate between 25 and 50 percent.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said the coordinated effort rests on one principle. “The only way to beat this outbreak is through close partnership, working together under the leadership of the affected countries in one coordinated effort, guided by a simple principle: one plan, one budget, one team,” he said.

He added that containing the disease requires sustained financing and community trust.

“This plan places communities at the centre, because without their participation, contact tracing falters, safe care is delayed, and transmission continues,” Tedros stated. U.S. State Department announced Friday that it is mobilizing additional support, including border screening, diagnostic supplies, and food assistance.

It is providing nearly $38 million in new funding, bringing the department’s total direct Ebola response contribution above $200 million. The United States remains the largest single financial contributor to the response, the department said.

U.S. Issued a travel warning and directed citizens returning from affected areas to use designated airports for enhanced screening. U.S. officials have expressed concern that some European countries are maintaining limited travel restrictions ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will include matches in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Miami.