Funding delays threaten Ebola clinical trials

Healthcare workers disinfect a stretcher after transporting a patient suffering from the Ebola virus disease from an ambulance at the Ebola Treatment Center in Bunia, Ituri, in the east of the DRC on June 23, 2026. [AFP]

Concerns are growing that delays in financing critical  Ebola clinical trials could hamper efforts to contain the rapidly expanding outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is warning that an urgent USD18 million funding gap is jeopardising key elements of the emergency response.

The warning comes days after global health partners unveiled an ambitious strategy aimed at ensuring vaccines and treatments for rare Ebola strains are developed before rather than during, future outbreaks.

Led by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the initiative seeks to accelerate the development of a trial-ready vaccine for the Bundibugyo strain by introducing new financing mechanisms designed to remove the commercial barriers that have historically slowed research.

Health experts say the current outbreak demonstrates exactly why that shift is necessary. Unlike the Zaire strain of Ebola, which has licensed vaccines and approved antibody therapies, the Bundibugyo strain has no approved vaccine or targeted treatment, leaving supportive care as the primary option while researchers work to evaluate promising therapies through clinical trials.

Researchers say the planned studies are expected to assess promising monoclonal antibody therapies and antiviral medicines that could improve survival among infected patients and guide future outbreak responses. 

The outbreak, declared on May 15, has continued to spread. The latest figures show 1,328 confirmed and probable Ebola cases, including 379 deaths and 195 recoveries, with infections now reported in four provinces of the DRC.

The expanding geographic spread has prompted authorities to strengthen containment measures. Officials have prohibited mass gatherings in Kinshasa and three other areas as they seek to prevent the virus from establishing transmission in the capital, a city of nearly 18 million people.

Although the outbreak began in eastern DRC, approximately 1,800 kilometres from Kinshasa, public health experts warn that population movement could accelerate transmission if the virus reaches major urban centres.

Beyond the immediate health emergency, the economic consequences are expected to be severe.

A new assessment by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that, under a worst-case scenario, the outbreak could cost African economies as much as USD 3.6 billion, erase hundreds of thousands of jobs and trigger a wider development crisis.

"If we have the resources and we step up, we can contain this outbreak and prevent further losses," said Damien Mama, the United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in Congo.

"If we do not, this health emergency risks becoming a much deeper and prolonged development crisis across the region and potentially the continent."

The UNDP projects that even under its most optimistic scenario—where transmission remains limited to the DRC and Uganda—the outbreak could reduce the DRC's gross domestic product by approximately US$1 billion.

International concern  has also intensified following a fresh health advisory issued by the United States.

The U.S. Embassy in Kampala said it is monitoring reports of a possible Marburg Virus Disease case in western Uganda. Marburg belongs to the same virus family as Ebola and causes a similar form of viral haemorrhagic fever.

In its advisory, the embassy stated:

"The U.S. Embassy is aware there are reports of a potential case of Marburg Virus Disease, a viral haemorrhagic fever, in western Uganda. The measures to protect yourself are the same as for any viral haemorrhagic fever, such as Ebola Bundibugyo Virus Disease."