Ebola: Death of neurosurgeon exposes hardships for Congo health workers

On Monday, he died, from Ebola, joining the more than 2,000 people who have died since the scourge emerged in eastern Congo in May. In total, 4,000 people have been infected. Dr Munyumu was receiving treatment at Katwa Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC) in Butembo. According to local media reports, his death is a major loss for the healthcare sector in Butembo.

Trained in Dakar, Senegal, and in France, he had also worked at Beaujon Hospital in Paris. He arrived in Butembo in June 2025 and had made it his mission to establish a neurosurgery service in a city where the speciality had previously been unavailable.

His death adds to the growing list of doctors and other healthcare workers who have succumbed to the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, especially in Ituri and North Kivu provinces where they have paid the highest price in the fight against a disease now spreading faster than wildfire.

According to the latest figures available from the World Health Organization (WHO), as of July 11, some 35 healthcare workers had died during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 17th Ebola outbreak. The WHO has since suggested that the actual outbreak began three months before it was officially declared, spreading quietly as patients were misdiagnosed.

The situation is now particularly difficult for healthcare workers, who were already facing challenging working conditions before the resurgence of Ebola. Besides being on the frontline of the response, often with inadequate technical and financial resources, they also have to contend with attacks from communities sceptical about the existence of the Ebola virus.

In its daily bulletin on August 11, the Congolese Ministry of Health reported that community resistance and attacks were continuing.

“Denial and resistance are among the main obstacles that need to be overcome. Opposition to dignified and safe burials has been reported in Isiro (Ituri, eastern DR Congo), response teams have been attacked in North Kivu, and several burials have had to be postponed in Ituri. Denial of the disease persists in some areas and continues to affect community acceptance of response interventions.”

The situation remains critical. In less than three months since the outbreak began, 4,381 people have been affected by the disease, which has already killed 2,011, according to the latest figures. This makes the 17th Ebola outbreak in the DRC the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in the world, after the West African epidemic of 2014–2016.

Healthcare workers are therefore confronting a disease whose chains of transmission remain difficult to break, partly because of several factors, including resistance from some communities.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, five of the country’s 26 provinces are affected by the disease. North and South Kivu, Haut-Uélé and Tshopo have reported cases, while Ituri accounts for more than 85 percent of all cases.

To make matters worse, the province includes mining areas with high population densities. This part of northeastern Congo is also home to large numbers of displaced people, creating conditions conducive to uncontrolled transmission of the disease. It also has some of the country’s most dangerous armed groups.

Ituri has now become the epicentre of a virus for which research has yet to produce a validated vaccine.

Against this backdrop, the DRC Ministry of Health says that several healthcare facilities—including health centres in Rwampara, ISTM, Nizi and Bambu in Ituri—are experiencing overcrowding and saturation.

Patients continue to arrive in large numbers. The government, however, is seeking to reassure the public, saying that “healthcare provision in Ituri has been strengthened”.

Health Minister, Dr Samuel Roger Kamba, says the response is “rigorous”. He points to the inauguration of a new Ebola treatment centre, which has brought the province’s installed treatment capacity to 840 beds, while additional centres are being prepared. 704 patients are currently hospitalised.

“The health screening system at points of entry and control points has also made it possible to screen more than 100,000 travellers, with a screening rate of 98 percent,” the Ministry of Health said in its daily bulletin.

DR Congo’s health authorities are also emphasising the number of people who have recovered, rather than focusing solely on fatalities. According to the latest daily bulletin, 869 people have so far recovered from the disease.

Meanwhile, to reduce attacks and strengthen community involvement in the fight against Ebola, a community awareness programme has been launched in Ituri and the other affected provinces.

Community outreach workers are conducting awareness activities, including “home visits and educational discussions”, according to Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba.

A relentless effort is therefore under way to contain the disease.

Improving the working conditions of healthcare workers is also among the priorities. All doctors in Ituri, many of whom had complained for years about unpaid salaries and allowances, have now been included in the risk allowance scheme, according to the Health Minister.