WHO Declares Ebola Outbreak A Public Health Emergency Of International Concern

InnovationScienceWHO Declares Ebola Outbreak A Public Health Emergency Of International ConcernByJohn Drake,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. John Drake is a professor at the University of Georgia. Follow AuthorMay 17, 2026, 05:54am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Medical staff are sterilised before entering the isolation unit at a hospital in Bundibugyo, western Uganda, on August 17, 2018, where there was a suspected case of Ebola. On May 16, 2026 an outbreak of Bundibugyo virus was declared a public health emergency of international concern. (Photo by SUMY SADURNI / AFP) (Photo credit should read SUMY SADURNI/AFP via Getty Images)AFP via Getty ImagesThe World Health Organization has declared the ongoing outbreak of Bundibugyo ebolavirus in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda a public health emergency of international concern, just two days after the outbreak was confirmed.The speed of this designation is without precedent. A PHEIC is the highest level of alarm WHO can sound under the International Health Regulations. Since the mechanism was established in 2005, it has been invoked only nine times: for H1N1 influenza, polio, the two prior Ebola outbreaks, Zika, COVID-19, two waves of mpox and now Bundibugyo. Every prior declaration followed weeks or months of deliberation. The 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic was not designated until August 2014, eight months after the first cases appeared in Guinea, by which point 1,711 people were infected and 932 had died. The 2018–2020 outbreak in eastern DRC was not declared a PHEIC until July 2019, nearly a year in, after the virus reached the city of Goma. Both declarations were widely criticized as too late. This one came in 48 hours.Why So Fast?The WHO statement points to several factors. Eight of 13 laboratory samples tested positive for Bundibugyo virus, a high positivity rate s...