European Commissioner Lahbib told the European Parliament on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, that the Ebola outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda continues to expand rapidly, the European Commission said.
The speech was delivered in Strasbourg. Lahbib described the situation as a crisis within a crisis, pointing to the combination of active conflict, widespread displacement, and fragile health systems that define the affected region.
The European Commission said the outbreak's spread is compounded by conditions that make containment especially difficult. Conflict and displacement have destabilized communities across the region, while health infrastructure remains too weak to mount a full response. Those two factors together, the Commission indicated, are driving the rapid expansion Lahbib described to lawmakers.
The commissioner's address to the Parliament placed the outbreak in the context of a humanitarian emergency layered on top of an existing security and public health crisis. The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda are both affected, according to the Commission, and the situation in both countries is unfolding against a backdrop of ongoing instability.
Lahbib's July 8 speech marked a formal European-level acknowledgment that the Ebola outbreak in the two countries represents a compounding emergency, with conflict, displacement, and weak health systems all cited as factors in its continued growth.