Africa CDC and WHO Launch Joint $518M Continental Ebola Response Plan — Largest Coordinated African-Led Outbreak Mobilization

On 5 June 2026, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization jointly launched a Continental Preparedness and Response Plan for the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, seeking to raise US$518 million to support African countries in detecting and responding to the epidemic. The plan represents the largest coordinated African-institution-led outbreak response funding mobilization in history. Key pillars of the continental plan: (1) Strengthen surveillance and laboratory capacity across all 54 African countries, with priority focus on 12 high-risk neighbors of DRC and Uganda including Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Burundi, and Kenya; (2) Pre-position Ebola Treatment Unit supplies and PPE in regional hubs to enable 72-hour deployment to any African country; (3) Expand contact tracing systems across the DRC-Uganda corridor, including cross-border tracing; (4) Accelerate clinical trial deployment of investigational BDBV vaccine candidates — ChAdOx1 BDBV (Oxford/Serum Institute) and rVSV BDBV (IAVI) — by co-funding Africa-based trial sites; (5) Support community engagement programs to address the community resistance that has held contact tracing below 50% in Ituri. Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya co-led the briefing alongside WHO DG Tedros. The plan was announced against the backdrop of 378 total global confirmed BDBV cases (363 DRC + 15 Uganda) and 63 confirmed deaths, with DRC's Ituri Province alone spanning 17 health zones. WHO reiterated that the outbreak remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) declared May 17, and that the response remains underfunded.