The World Health Organization has launched a $518 million six-month emergency response plan aimed at containing the ongoing Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.

According to a Reuters report published on Friday, the initiative was announced by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus alongside the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The plan is intended to support efforts to contain the outbreaks in the two affected countries while helping neighbouring nations strengthen preparedness measures through enhanced border screening, surveillance systems and other preventive mechanisms.

WHO and Africa CDC officials warned that the outbreak is spreading rapidly and that response efforts are struggling to keep pace with the increasing number of infections. They stressed that continued funding, strong political commitment and community cooperation would be essential to bringing the outbreak under control.

“The World Health Organization chief announced a $518 million six-month joint plan to fight Ebola on Friday, calling for money and political commitment to halt the spread of an outbreak that is already the fourth biggest on record.”

“The strategy aims to help the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Uganda contain their outbreaks, while assisting other countries to prepare for possible cases through measures including enhanced border screening, the WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said,” the Reuters report read.

Africa CDC disclosed that the outbreak remained undetected for several weeks, allowing the virus to spread before health authorities were able to launch a comprehensive response.

Current figures indicate that the DRC has recorded 381 confirmed Ebola cases and 62 deaths, while Uganda has reported 19 confirmed cases and two fatalities.

Health officials revealed that the outbreak involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment. The strain presents unique challenges because most existing Ebola countermeasures were developed for other variants of the virus.

The Director-General of Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, described the outbreak as the most serious Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak ever recorded.

Donor organisations have so far pledged approximately $315.8 million towards containment efforts, leaving a substantial funding shortfall for the six-month emergency strategy.

Health authorities also reported that commonly used Ebola tests initially failed to detect the Bundibugyo strain, while laboratories experienced delays in processing test samples.

Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said test results can take several days to more than a week, slowing containment efforts.

Officials identified community resistance, attacks on burial teams and treatment centres, as well as broader security challenges, as major obstacles to controlling the disease. To enhance the safety of frontline workers, WHO recently received three armoured vehicles from the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo.

On May 17, the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak linked to the Bundibugyo strain a global health emergency after confirmed cases emerged in Ituri Province of the DRC and cross-border transmission was later reported in Kampala, Uganda.

At the time of the declaration, health authorities recorded eight confirmed cases, 246 suspected infections and 80 suspected deaths across the Bunia, Rwampara and Mongbwalu health zones.

Current data now shows that the outbreak has escalated to more than 670 suspected cases and approximately 160 suspected deaths.

On May 22, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs approved up to $60 million from its emergency fund to support ongoing containment operations.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has stated that no confirmed Ebola case has been recorded in Nigeria.

In response to the regional threat posed by the outbreak, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has strengthened screening and surveillance measures at the country’s international airports to prevent possible importation of the virus.

The current outbreak is being driven by the rare Bundibugyo strain, for which there is presently no approved vaccine or specific treatment.

Bundibugyo ebolavirus has previously been associated with only two outbreaks worldwide, one in Uganda in 2007 and another in eastern DRC in 2012.

Most existing Ebola vaccines and therapies are designed to combat the more common Zaire strain rather than the Bundibugyo variant.

The Zaire strain was responsible for the devastating 2014–2016 West African Ebola outbreak, which claimed more than 11,000 lives.

The DRC has experienced more than a dozen Ebola outbreaks over the past five decades and remains one of the countries with the most extensive experience in responding to the disease.

Meanwhile, WHO recently revised downward the number of Ebola cases linked to the outbreak in the DRC. According to updated figures released by Congolese authorities on June 1, the country had recorded 321 confirmed infections, 48 deaths and six recoveries.