HEALTH | U.S.-AFRICA RELATIONS

President Donald Trump on Monday raised concerns about the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, bringing the worsening health crisis back into the spotlight as confirmed infections in the country surpassed 8,000.

Trump was speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after announcing a $15 billion investment by Mesabi Metallics in an iron ore and steel project in Iowa when a reporter asked whether he planned to take further action against Rwanda as part of the U.S.-brokered peace process between Rwanda and the DRC.

The President’s response instead pivots to Ebola and the status of the outbreak in DRC.

“How is Ebola going,” he asked.

It was a notable return to the issue after weeks in which neither the White House nor senior administration officials had spoken about the growing numbers of confirmed cases and deaths.

The outbreak, declared in May, has continued to expand despite an international response. As of September 28, the DRC had reported more than 8,000 confirmed cases and nearly 4,000 deaths. The outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola virus, is now the largest Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC and the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, behind the 2014–16 epidemic in West Africa.

The U.S. has become the largest single donor to the response, pledging an additional $267 million last week during the United Nations General Assembly meetings, bringing its total commitment to about $886 million. The funding is part of a broader international effort to mobilize nearly $2 billion for the response.

The latest U.S. funding is intended to support Ebola treatment facilities, diagnostics, medical supplies and frontline health workers, as well as surveillance and other containment measures.

The funding was announced on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York.

The administration has also taken steps to keep the outbreak from reaching American soil by imposing temporary entry restrictions on travelers who have been in the DRC within the previous 21 days, barring them from boarding commercial flights bound for the U.S. and requiring U.S. citizens and nationals to remain outside the DRC for 21 days before returning. The restrictions remain in effect.

At the same time, the U.S. built a 50-bed quarantine and isolation facility at Laikipia Air Base in Kenya for Americans exposed to Ebola in the region, with plans for expansion. Seven American aid workers were sent to the facility in July after exposure in the DRC. The administration has separately evacuated at least two Americans who contracted Ebola to Europe for treatment, rather than bringing them back to the United States.

But the response is being tested by the particular characteristics of the virus and the environment in which it is spreading. The Bundibugyo Ebola is rare, and there is no approved vaccine specifically for the strain. In eastern DRC, insecurity, population movement, difficult road access and pressure on already stretched health services have also complicated efforts to trace contacts, move patients and maintain surveillance.

The World Health Organization and Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention have been working alongside the DRC government and other partners to keep the response moving on the ground.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus traveled to Bunia in May, visiting the epicenter of the outbreak and meeting with health workers, government officials and communities as the response was getting underway. He returned in August as part of a joint WHO-Africa CDC mission to Uganda and DRC, alongside Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya and WHO Regional Director for Africa Mohamed Janabi. The delegation visited response operations in Uganda and Bunia, assessed conditions at the Rwangole Ebola Treatment Centre and brought the findings from the field back to government officials in Kinshasa.

The August mission also underscored the regional dimension of the outbreak. Uganda had moved quickly to contain cases linked to the DRC outbreak, while WHO and Africa CDC called for stronger cross-border surveillance, laboratory readiness and coordination among neighboring countries.

That regional coordination has also been taking shape through the East African Community. As Africa Bazaar reported in June, health ministers from the East Africa Community’s eight member states agreed to harmonize Ebola surveillance and screening at airports, seaports and land borders, establish a regional technical task force and strengthen information sharing and emergency response capacity across the region.

The effort reflects the extent to which an outbreak that began in eastern DRC can move through the same networks that underpin trade, tourism, investment and the movement of people across East and Central Africa.

During the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Evian, France, in June, leaders and partners including Kenya and Egypt also called for a coordinated response, emphasizing contact tracing, infection prevention and control, quarantine and isolation, laboratory testing, cross-border preparedness, border surveillance and community engagement.

The U.S. commitment has grown substantially since the outbreak was first declared. The State Department initially mobilized emergency assistance and subsequently expanded its support as the outbreak spread. By September, the U.S. commitment had reached $886 million.

The Africa Bazaar has repeatedly sought details from the White House over the past two months on the disbursements of U.S. Ebola fundings and the broader American response, including where and how the pledged resources are being deployed. The administration has not responded to those questions.

The outbreak has also tested the ability of neighboring countries to contain infections crossing borders. Uganda, which recorded cases linked to the DRC outbreak, moved quickly to contain transmission and was declared Ebola-free after completing the required 42 day period without a new locally acquired case.

The WHO and Africa CDC have continued to stress that the regional response cannot stop at national borders. Their joint efforts include strengthening surveillance, laboratory capacity, emergency response teams and cross-border coordination, while keeping communities and frontline health workers at the center of the response.

The Ebola outbreak in DRC is unfolding alongside a wider security and humanitarian crisis in the east, where conflict and population displacement have complicated access to healthcare and the movement of response teams.

Trump’s renewed attention to the outbreak comes as the DRC response enters a more demanding phase, with health authorities and international partners working to contain transmission while trying to prevent the virus from moving farther through a region whose economies and populations are increasingly interconnected.