Africa has received about $498.8 million in pledges and financial commitments aimed at boosting response measures against the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak affecting several high-risk and impacted countries.
This was announced on Monday, May 26, 2026, by Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, in a post on X.
According to Kaseya, African governments and international partners are working in a coordinated manner to mobilise resources required to reinforce outbreak control operations across the continent, as part of a unified response strategy.
“Today, during the High-Level Ministerial Meeting, governments and partners announced approximately US$498.8 million in pledges and commitments to strengthen response efforts across affected and high-risk countries,’’ he said.
He added that the level of financial commitment reflects growing African solidarity and shared responsibility in protecting public health and strengthening health security systems across the continent.
Kaseya also noted that despite ongoing efforts, the evolving nature of the outbreak demands stronger coordination, trust, and rapid intervention to curb transmission and reduce fatalities.
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, disclosed that the death toll from the Bundibugyo Ebola virus had climbed to 220, warning that the situation was becoming increasingly difficult to control.
“At the moment, the epidemic is outpacing us.”
He further explained that the Bundibugyo strain currently driving the outbreak does not yet have an approved vaccine or a specific treatment available.
The Bundibugyo ebolavirus is considered one of the rarest forms of Ebola affecting humans and has previously been associated with only two recorded outbreaks, first in Uganda in 2007 and later in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in 2012.
Most of the existing Ebola vaccines and antibody-based treatments were developed primarily for the more widespread Zaire strain, which was responsible for the 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak that claimed more than 11,000 lives.
In a related development, Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, said in a post on X that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has released up to $60 million from its emergency response fund to support containment efforts against the outbreak in Central Africa.
The funding came five days after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, citing concerns over the absence of approved vaccines or targeted treatments for the Bundibugyo strain.
Additional financial pledges announced at the ministerial meeting included $160 million from the World Bank for Congo, $82 million from the United States, and about $57 million from European partners.
The outbreak continues to spread in parts of Central Africa, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
In the DRC, health authorities have recorded 906 suspected cases, 105 confirmed cases, 223 suspected deaths, and 10 confirmed deaths linked to the outbreak.
Uganda has reported seven confirmed cases and one confirmed death so far, with officials noting that five of the infections are epidemiologically linked to the initial two confirmed cases.
