The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Ghebreyesus, says the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is beginning to gain ground.

Mr Ghebreyesus said this on Wednesday during a virtual news conference.

According to him, transmission is declining in the most affected parts of Ituri Province, while South Kivu has reported no new cases since May.

He, however, warned that the epidemic continued to grow and kill, with no fewer than 7,200 cases and more than 3,500 deaths reported across seven provinces.

The WHO boss said about 300 new cases and 160 deaths were reported in Ituri during the past week.

According to him, the figures represented nearly half of the national total, with transmission declining from a high level.

He said no fewer than 1,700 people had recovered from Ebola since the outbreak began and that the epidemic had remained largely concentrated in northeastern DRC after four months, apart from a small outbreak in Uganda that was swiftly contained.

According to him, the progress resulted from the leadership of the DRC government and collaboration among WHO, Africa CDC and hundreds of partners.

He also commended thousands of health workers and frontline responders for their contribution to containing the outbreak.

Mr Ghebreyesus said trials of Ebola treatment and post-exposure prophylaxis were accelerating following increased community engagement.

He added that vaccine trials were expected to begin soon as efforts continued to strengthen the scientific response.

The WHO director-general said preparations were already underway to expand access to products if they proved effective in clinical trials.

He, however, cautioned that the epidemic remained serious and required sustained action over many more months.

Mr Ghebreyesus said North Kivu was experiencing a rapid increase in cases, with weekly infections almost doubling from about 100 to more than 200 in two weeks.

He said the scale and diversity of affected locations made it difficult to describe the situation as a single epidemic.

He said there were many outbreaks in many places, stressing the need to get the response right in every affected area.

“The affected locations ranged from major cities such as Kisangani, with about 1.5 million residents, to remote villages.

“Conflict-affected areas, mining zones and sparsely populated communities near the South Sudan border posed additional challenges,” Mr Ghebreyesus said.

He warned that high population mobility in the region could facilitate further spread of Ebola to other areas and described the operating environment as extraordinarily difficult, citing poor roads and challenges in reaching communities by small aircraft.

The WHO chief also expressed concern over attacks on aid workers and health facilities in some areas, saying such attacks made an already demanding response more difficult, although most Congolese people continued to support the response.

Mr Ghebreyesus said Ebola was compounding other health and humanitarian challenges facing the Congolese population, adding that the epidemic could worsen hunger, discourage people from visiting health centres, increase maternal deaths and interrupt HIV treatment.

He, however, called for additional resources to sustain the Ebola response and support the wider humanitarian operation in the country.

The WHO director-general expressed gratitude to donors for their support but urged them to provide additional funding and fully fund both the DRC government’s response plan and the wider humanitarian response.

Mr Ghebreyesus said the Ebola outbreak was another reminder of the continuing threat posed by outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics globally.

He said world leaders would meet at the United Nations General Assembly in New York to renew commitments on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.

According to him, countries had negotiated a draft political declaration addressing gaps in global health security, including surveillance, laboratories, early warning systems and infection prevention and control.

He said the declaration also called for stronger health systems, community engagement, action against misinformation and equitable access to vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.

He urged countries to complete negotiations on the Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing annex to the WHO Pandemic Agreement to enable the agreement to proceed towards ratification.

The WHO chief also highlighted World Patient Safety Day, saying the 2026 focus was safe care for people living with non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

He said a new WHO analysis estimated that about one in six people with NCDs experienced preventable harm while receiving care.

He noted that governments, health workers, civil society and patients all had roles to play in ensuring safe care throughout prevention, diagnosis, treatment, long-term management and self-care.

(NAN)