Ebola a 'terrifying disease' as DRC faces 'decades of conflict' and overburdened healthcare system

What the report says

France 24 Africa reports that Ebola is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province, where the outbreak is unfolding against a backdrop of years of armed conflict, insecurity and a strained health system. The piece centers on comments from Stephanie Hoffmann, a project coordinator for Doctors Without Borders in Butembo, a densely populated city in the region.

According to the report, the epidemic’s center has moved from Ituri to North Kivu, and transmission is accelerating. Health workers in Butembo are described as facing especially difficult conditions because they are often treating neighbors and relatives while lacking adequate protective equipment. The article says this creates an impossible situation for staff already working in an overburdened system.

The report underscores why Ebola remains so dangerous in this setting: conflict and displacement make public health responses harder, while limited medical capacity complicates isolation, tracing and treatment efforts. More broadly, outbreaks in eastern Congo have repeatedly been shaped by insecurity, which can slow vaccination and community outreach, though that wider context is background rather than a specific claim in the France 24 segment.

The timing of the report is 29 September 2026, and it presents the outbreak as a growing emergency in North Kivu, with Butembo highlighted as a key location.