The UK Government has committed more than £50 million in additional emergency funding to assist in containing a worsening Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), bringing total British assistance for the crisis to £78 million.
Announced at the Despatch Box by Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) Minister for Africa Kirsty McNeill, the funding comes as health agencies warn the epidemic is on course to become the deadliest and most widespread Ebola outbreak ever recorded.
More than 3,000 people have died in Congo’s Ebola outbreak and there are over 6,100 confirmed cases.
The virus is spreading rapidly against a compounding backdrop of violent conflict, mass displacement, and acute humanitarian vulnerability in the eastern provinces of the DRC, creating an unprecedented risk of regional and international cross-border transmission.
The new funding will be deployed across critical operational pillars, including strengthening epidemiological disease surveillance, equipping frontline healthcare personnel, expanding treatment access, enhancing community infection control, and facilitating safe, dignified burials to interrupt transmission chains.
McNeill said: “Families across the DRC are living through unimaginable loss as Ebola tears through communities, claiming lives, and leaving thousands more fighting for survival.
“We know that speed saves lives, which is why we were amongst the first to commit support and experts to the region, but as the outbreak intensifies, we are accelerating our response to match the pace and scale of the challenge.”
The UK is already supporting the regional response through partnerships with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the World Health Organization, the United Nations and humanitarian organisations working on the front line.
British public health experts have also been deployed across the region to support surveillance, infection prevention, community engagement and outbreak preparedness.
