An Ebola Outbreak in Congo Spreads as Five Patients Recover

The Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda have reported 263 confirmed Ebola cases and 43 deaths from the rare Bundibugyo strain, the head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) wrote, with more than 1,100 suspected cases under investigation. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global health emergency on May 17.

There was some progress. The World Health Organization hailed the recovery of five patients infected with a strain for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine, and its director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, attended the opening of a treatment center in eastern Congo. More than 220 people are suspected to have died in total.

Writing in the Financial Times, the Africa CDC chief argued that the continent's response must be defined by Africa itself, with international support working through regional institutions rather than around them. That position reflects a broader push for African ownership of health and economic policy.

The outbreak is centered in a conflict-affected mining region of eastern Congo, an area important to global cobalt and copper supply, which is why a contained health crisis there still carries economic significance.