Ebola outbreak: Can Africa hold the line after USAID cuts?

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is once again battling Ebola, barely five months after authorities declared the last outbreak contained. DRC has faced more Ebola flare-ups than any other country on the continent. Despite the rollout of vaccines, rapid response teams and stronger surveillance, the virus keeps resurfacing — often in remote, conflict-affected communities where health systems are fragile and public trust is thin. This latest outbreak is raising urgent questions about whether vaccines are truly reaching high-risk populations, whether immunity is holding, and whether response strategies are fit for purpose. It also comes at a precarious moment: the United States, long the single biggest donor to global outbreak response, has slashedUSAID funding, leaving major gaps in surveillance, frontline staffing and emergency logistics across Africa.