UN responders issued an urgent appeal on August 21, 2026, for immediate international support as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo continued to spread, United Nations News reported. Funding for lifesaving response work has fallen to critically low levels, the appeal stated.
The outbreak is the deadliest in the country's history, according to United Nations News. UN responders described the pace of spread as exponential, a characterization that accompanied their call for donor action. Without additional international resources, the response effort faces a severe shortfall in the capacity to carry out lifesaving work.