The East African Community (EAC) will convene an Extra-Ordinary virtual meeting of the Sectoral Council of Ministers responsible for Health on 1st–2nd June 2026, to deliberate on the ongoing Ebola outbreak affecting the region.
The meeting will consider the proposed regional actions to curb the outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain.
Partner states, including Kenya, have stepped up preparedness measures following the outbreak in DR Congo and Uganda.
“The convening of this high-level meeting is part of a series of urgent actions the EAC Secretariat has initiated, having already intensified regional coordination and preparedness measures following the Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus strain in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda”. It said.
There are now more than 1,000 suspected Ebola cases in the DR Congo, and at least 246 deaths. Neighbouring Uganda has reported nine confirmed cases and one death.
The medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has warned that the rapid spread in DRC is deeply alarming.
Speaking two weeks on from the outbreak being declared, MSF deputy director Dr Alan Gonzales said never before had “so many cases” been recorded so soon.
His comments came as the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, visited the eastern Congolese province of Ituri – the worst-hit area – to oversee virus containment efforts.
“Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration,” he said, stressing his teams on the ground were “witnessing a response that has not yet caught up to the rapid spread of the epidemic”, said Gonzales.
“The reality today is that nobody knows the true scale and severity of this outbreak. New suspected cases are being reported daily, yet hundreds of samples remain untested.”
Gonzalez added that containment efforts and humanitarian aid deliveries were being delayed by “major constraints”, including border and airport closures.
The WHO has repeatedly warned that ongoing conflict in the DR Congo was also significantly hampering the Ebola outbreak response.
The post EAC health ministers set to hold emergency meeting on Ebola appeared first on KBC Digital.