The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) could last a year, warned a representative of the Red Cross on June 16, 2026, estimating that its peak had not yet been reached.
“We fear that this epidemic will last another year before ending,” declared Bruno Michon, head of operations of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC), during a press briefing in Geneva, in comments reported by RFI. The ICRC also expresses its fear that the disease is overshadowing the humanitarian response to the various conflicts in the sub-region, in a note published this Tuesday morning.
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For the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), “armed conflicts associated with epidemics constitute a potentially devastating combination”, while a security and humanitarian crisis is raging in the east of the country (notably in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri). This war involves armed groups, local militias, the regular army (FARDC) and regional tensions with Rwanda in particular.
The Democratic Republic of Congo declared an Ebola epidemic on May 15, the 17th in this African country of more than 100 million inhabitants. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued an international health alert two days later.
