Response to Ebola Outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda

How is the World Bank Group responding to the Ebola Outbreak

The World Bank Group is responding swiftly to the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda. We are drawing on our investments in health preparedness - and the financing tools built specifically for moments like this - to help countries contain the outbreak and protect vulnerable communities.

Our focus is on the people most at risk: the communities facing the outbreak, the health workers responding to it, and the governments working to contain it.

Mobilizing financing and technical support

Our immediate priority is to help ensure that financing and technical support can be mobilized rapidly to support frontline response efforts, reinforce health systems, and strengthen surveillance and cross-border preparedness.

• Frontline response support - Getting resources to the people responding to the outbreak, including for health workers, surveillance systems, and community engagement teams doing the hard work of containment on the ground.

• Health system reinforcement - Strengthening the local and national health systems that communities depend on - including laboratory capacity, referral pathways, and supply chains.

• Surveillance and cross-border preparedness - Supporting fast case detection and public health interventions that are the foundation of containment, including reinforcing preparedness in neighboring countries at risk of spread.

Private sector capacity

The World Bank Group is following up with private sector clients to assess the impact of the outbreak on operations, including access to routine healthcare and products, as well as the private sector's capacity to scale up production and delivery of high-demand products such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), diagnostics, and specific treatment options.

Supporting Impacted Countries

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The World Bank Group has been a long-term partner in building health emergency infrastructure in the country.

• A current project in DRC, the Health Emergency Preparedness, Response, and Resilience (HEPRR) Project, is financing the deployment of Ministry of Health specialists to the field, including epidemiologists, infection prevention and control experts, and risk communication teams. It is also supporting the deployment of diagnostic equipment and laboratory experts to expand testing capacity in Bunia.
• At the same time, a separate $555 million nutrition and health project is protecting the delivery of maternal, newborn and immunization services during the emergency across over 3,500 health facilities in the DRC.
• Through the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) project, we helped establish the largest biosafety-level laboratory in Eastern DRC-now the central testing hub in the heart of the outbreak zone. The lab is fully operational and actively testing for Ebola. We are currently financing critical laboratory equipment in DRC to keep the lab fully operational through an existing health investment in the country.
• DRC's national response is being coordinated from the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in Kinshasa, which was rehabilitated four years ago with World Bank funding through REDISSE. A warehouse in the same building holds stockpiles of emergency supplies - pre-positioned for exactly this kind of crisis.

Uganda

The World Bank Group has supported Uganda through previous major outbreaks and is mobilizing funding to help contain this one. We are in close coordination with national authorities and partners to assess evolving needs on the ground and are discussing additional options to support the country's response.

Regional and cross-border preparedness

Cross-border transmission is a serious concern given the movement of people, goods, and trade across this region.

In South Sudan, the Ministry of Health has deployed surveillance teams to border areas and is working with WHO - contracted under an ongoing World Bank project - to strengthen preparedness and ramp up Ebola response activities. Other neighboring countries are also activating preparedness measures, and the WBG is supporting these efforts alongside governments and development partners.

WBG Health Emergency Response Tools

Crisis Response Toolkit and Crisis Response Window

These mechanisms allow countries to reallocate and access emergency financing more quickly in times of crisis. This outbreak underscores the importance of having these options pre-positioned.

• The Crisis Response Toolkit includes the Rapid Response Option, which allows countries to repurpose existing portfolio funds without new approvals; pre-arranged contingent financing; and catastrophe insurance mechanisms that mobilize private capital.
• The Crisis Response Window provides additional concessional financing for countries responding to major emergencies. We are actively exploring options under both mechanisms to support a robust response.

The Pandemic Fund

The Pandemic Fund, hosted by the World Bank, is the first multilateral financing mechanism dedicated specifically to strengthening pandemic preparedness and response capacity in low- and middle-income countries.

The Fund is coordinating closely with countries as well as regional and international partners to support the rapid scale-up of surveillance, diagnostics, risk communications and community engagement, and other emergency response measures in affected regions of the DRC and Uganda, as well as neighboring countries, including Burundi and South Sudan.

The Pandemic Fund has active projects in all affected countries and stands ready to scale up efforts to contain the outbreak and strengthen core health systems. An extraordinary meeting of the Fund's Governing Board will be held this week to determine concrete measures, including the reprogramming of available resources to meet urgent needs.

Commitment to Resilient Health Systems

This outbreak is also a reminder of why resilient health systems matter.

The World Bank Group is committed to reaching 1.5 billion people with quality, affordable health services by 2030 by mobilizing public and private sectors together-strengthening health financing, expanding the health workforce, scaling primary care, and boosting local manufacturing of medicines and supplies. That ambition requires resilient health systems that are strong enough to prevent, detect, and respond to health emergencies.

One key initiative supporting this goal is the Africa Initiative for Medical Access and Manufacturing (AIM2030), a partnership led by the World Bank Group, the African Union Commission, governments, and partners to expand access to essential medicines and health products while building sustainable regional manufacturing capacity across Africa.

Partners

We are coordinating closely with governments across the region and with partners, including WHO, the Africa Centres for Disease Control (Africa CDC), Gavi, CEPI, and other partners. The Africa CDC, supported in part by World Bank funding, has been central to strengthening African countries' capacity to detect and respond to outbreaks, including this one.

Stay Updated

The situation is actively evolving. We are monitoring it closely and will continue to update this page as our response develops.

For more information on the World Bank Group's health work, visit:

• World Bank Health
• The Pandemic Fund
• The World Bank in DRC
• The World Bank in Uganda
• The World Bank in South Sudan