Exploitation and misinformation hinder DRC Ebola response

The safety of staff is a top priority in the fight against Ebola. SWI swissinfo

Ebola is spreading through the rainforests and mining camps in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), fuelling one of the country’s most devastating epidemics. A doctor with the Swiss NGO Medair explains why the fight to contain the epidemic has so far failed.

It’s been five months since authorities in the DRC officially confirmed the latest Ebola epidemic, the seventeenth in the country’s history and one of the deadliest to date.

“You have to grasp the sheer scale of the affected area,” says Pierre-Oliver Ngadjole, a doctor and nutritionist with the Swiss aid organisation Medair. “The epidemic has spread across an area larger than Switzerland.”

The National Institute of Public Health has recorded more than 9,000 confirmed cases and over 4,300 deaths. In the eastern provinces of Ituri – the epicentre – as well as North Kivu and Haut-Uélé, the virus continues to spread unchecked among the population.

Seven river-crossings to the nearest hospital

At the Ebola treatment centre of Katwa in Butembo, the figures are just as grim. “Over 70 of the 252 patients admitted have died so far,” says Ngadjole.

For Ngadjole, the main reason for the high death toll is not the aggressiveness of the virus, but delays in treatment. Patients simply arrive at hospitals too late.

The profile of those infected also reflects the region’s social structure: the 15- to 49-year-old age group is the hardest hit, which can be put down to work in the mining camps. Young children are also quickly infected within their families.

Getting to a treatment centre is often an odyssey. “The roads are in a terrible state. During the rainy season, not even motorbikes can get through,” says Ngadjole. Some patients have to travel for days and cross several rivers to reach a hospital. With little transport, families often resort to home remedies, which means they lose precious time. The delays can be fatal.

Public awareness is a key part of the fight against Ebola. SWI swissinfo

The devastating effect of myths

At the start of the epidemic, geographical isolation was compounded by a fatal communication failure that delayed treatment. Rumours spread that there was neither a vaccine nor a cure for the current strain of the virus.

“This message seriously undermined the population’s willingness to seek treatment,” Ngadjole explains.

It is true that currently no approved vaccine is available for the Bundibugyo strain that caused this epidemic. However, early intensive care, including intravenous fluids containing electrolytes, can dramatically improve a patient’s chances of survival. Isolation in hospital also helps to break the chain of transmission.

Another compounding factor is the dire security situation in the country. People infected with Ebola fear being attacked by armed militias on their way to hospital. Religious communities also urge patients to pray rather than seek medical help. Aid organisations such as Medair are therefore increasingly involving survivors to help build trust. “We let survivors tell their stories,” says Ngadjole.

About the organisation: MedairExternal link is an international emergency relief organisation based in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It provides medical and infrastructure support in crisis zones. Founded in 1989 by two medical doctors and other volunteers, the organisation now has an annual operating income of around $91.6 million (CHF75.6 million) and employs more than 1,500 people worldwide. In Switzerland, it receives financial support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), among others. According to its 2025 annual report, other donors include the EU’s humanitarian aid office (ECHO) and USAID. Congolese doctor Pierre-Olivier Ngadjole works for Medair on the ground.

The challenge of contact tracing

Paris-based infectious disease specialist Xavier Lescure believes that contact tracing is another obstacle to containing the epidemic.

“We have to trace every link in the chain of transmission,” says Lescure, who heads France’s coordination mission for epidemic risks and co-coordinates international research networks of the World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, contact tracing in the DRC reaches about 75% of all contacts.  

“Given the circumstances, this is remarkable, but it is simply not enough to put out the fire – we would need more than 95%,” Lescure tells Swissinfo. He also blames the information crisis for the dire situation in the DRC. He calls it an “epidemic of post-truth” in which unfounded myths and mistrust undermine public health measures.

Hence, hope lies in medical research. According to Lescure, two approaches are being pursued. One involves testing vaccines specifically developed against the Bundibugyo strain, while the other involves using the existing rVSV vaccine developed against the Zaire strain.

“Early scientific evidence points to possible cross-immunity. If this vaccine proved even partially effective and prevented severe cases, we would have an immediate weapon to fight the epidemic,” Lescure says.

>>For the health authorities, containing the outbreak of Ebola is a regional priority:

Raw materials, uprooting and the trauma of war

It’s no surprise that the epidemic is hitting the mining camps in Ituri particularly hard. Hundreds of thousands of people work in informal mines in appalling hygienic conditions. Many of these sites lie deep in the rainforest, where workers have little choice but to rely on wild animals for food – known as bush meat, the primary source of virus transmission. The crammed conditions in the mines and camps for internally displaced persons provide ideal conditions for the virus to spread.

And then there are the psychological scars. The virus is hitting people who have endured three decades of war. “We deal with families who are deeply traumatised because their relatives were murdered while fleeing,” Ngadjole tells Swissinfo from Bunia.

An Ebola death is doubly devastating for families already struggling to survive. Traditional funeral rites are banned because of the risk of infection. The deceased must be buried immediately under strict safety precautions, while all their belongings, including clothes, mattresses and rubbish, must also be burnt. For families already living in extreme poverty, this means losing the last of their possessions. For this reason, Medair also provides material assistance to support them.

In eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, many families work in mines, often in appalling sanitary conditions. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

The price of digital consumption

For Ngadjole, the fight against Ebola must not end with emergency medical aid. “We need structural change across the entire production chain,” he says, pointing to the dismal hygienic conditions in the mining camps.

The outbreak, says Lescure, is also a reflection of our global consumption culture. “The minerals mined in the DRC are used in our smartphones, computers and numerous other everyday devices. Their extraction comes at a heavy cost: the overexploitation of natural resources, the destruction of ecosystems, geopolitical tensions and the suffering of local communities.”

Epidemics, he says, are never merely a natural phenomenon but also a reflection of economic and social choices: “Our consumption habits have global consequences.”

>>An analysis of the conflict minerals situation in DRC:

Switzerland’s response to Ebola in the DRC

In 2026, Switzerland increasedExternal link its support for the fight against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to an annual amount of CHF4.6 million ($5.6 million). The funding is going primarily to the World Health Organization (WHO), the coordination of emergency medical teams, expanded laboratory capacity and epidemiological surveillance.

According to the foreign ministry, Switzerland also works closely with the DRC’s health authorities as well as with international partner organisations.

Switzerland support projects run by aid organisations such as Medair in the hardest hit provinces of Ituri and North Kivu.

Swiss institutions also cooperate with Congolese partners to monitor the virus’ genome. Basel-based pharmaceutical company Roche is providing lab equipment and testing methods to detect the Bundibugyo Ebola virus in collaboration with the Congolese National Institute of Public Health (INSP).

Donations from Switzerland also help to fund the fight against Ebola. In May 2026, Swiss SolidarityExternal link allocated CHF 1.2 million ($1.45 million) from its emergency relief fund.

Edited by Marc Leutenegger. Adapted from German by Billi Bierling/gw

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