Samaritan’s Purse to Open 50-Bed Ebola Treatment Centre in Northeastern DRC Within Days
Christian aid organisation Samaritan’s Purse plans to open a 50-bed Ebola treatment centre in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo within a week, its president told Reuters on Tuesday, May 27. The World Health Organisation has declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola — for which there are no approved vaccines or treatments — a public health emergency of international concern. The announcement comes as the number of suspected and confirmed cases in the DRC and Uganda continues to rise rapidly. TimesLIVE
The Facility and Its Location
Franklin Graham, President of Samaritan’s Purse, told Reuters that the centre will be based in Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, rather than in areas where attacks on medical facilities have already occurred. WHBL
The choice of Bunia is deliberate. Medics battling the outbreak have been grappling with supply shortages as well as attacks on their facilities, with protesters setting fire to tents for patients in Rwamparaek in Ituri province last week. Graham said the security situation in the capital made it a safer base of operations. TimesLIVE
“We have a lot more security available to us in Bunia, so we feel confident that we will be okay from those type of attacks,” Graham told Reuters, referring to the provincial capital.
Materials for the centre, including generators and air conditioners to cool down patients and medics working in full protective gear, were set to arrive in Ituri on Wednesday. Graham described the scale of the construction required plainly. “You’re building a small town,” he told Reuters. U.S. News & World Report
Graham also said the organisation will work with local churches and distribute information leaflets to educate communities and build trust. Community engagement has been a persistent challenge in Ituri, where mistrust of outside medical teams has hampered previous outbreak responses. U.S. News & World Report
The Airlift and Supplies
Samaritan’s Purse flew more than 34 tonnes of medical supplies out of Greensboro, North Carolina, landing first in Uganda before transporting equipment overland into the DRC. WRAL.com
Ken Isaacs, Vice President of Programs and Government Relations at Samaritan’s Purse, described the cargo. “We have a lot of personal protective equipment — the white Tyvek suits, the face masks, the rubber gloves. With Ebola you’ve got to be fully dressed out. We’ve got medicines, we’ve got IV fluids. We have building materials,” he said. Spectrum News 1
Disaster response specialists deployed by Samaritan’s Purse include an outbreak specialist, an infection prevention and control specialist, and medical personnel. Their initial focus is establishing effective infection prevention and control protocols for local mission hospitals and communities, in coordination with the DRC Ministry of Health. Morningstar
Scale of the Outbreak
The outbreak is expanding fast. As of May 25, a total of 105 confirmed cases, including 10 deaths, and 906 suspected cases, including 223 deaths, had been reported across Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu provinces in the DRC. Uganda had reported seven confirmed cases, including one death, several linked to travel from the DRC. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
On May 25, two suspected cases were reported in Italy in two people who had travelled from Uganda to Lombardy. The individuals developed symptoms consistent with haemorrhagic fever and were hospitalised in isolation in Milan. European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
As of May 25, 1,018 suspected and confirmed cases and at least 234 deaths had been reported in total. Experts have said the true number of infections could considerably exceed the suspected case count. Wikipedia
The first currently known suspected case was a health worker who reported onset of symptoms — including fever, haemorrhaging, vomiting, and intense malaise — on April 24, 2026. The case died at a medical centre in Bunia. WHO
Why This Outbreak Is Harder to Control
The epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo ebolavirus, which complicates the response because existing Ebola treatments and approved vaccines target the Zaire ebolavirus, a different strain. The Bundibugyo virus is estimated to carry a fatality rate of between 25% and 50%. Wikipedia
An animal study suggests that the vaccine approved for Zaire ebolavirus, Ervebo, may be partially effective against the Bundibugyo virus, but experts have raised concerns about the effectiveness and safety of using a vaccine designed for a different virus. Wikipedia
The affected areas of Ituri Province present logistical challenges, with limited transportation infrastructure, difficult terrain, and ongoing security concerns that complicate access for response teams and medical personnel, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CDC
Background
On May 15, 2026, the DRC Ministry of Public Health officially declared the country’s 17th Ebola outbreak, affecting the Rwampara, Mongbwalu, and Bunia health zones in Ituri Province. On May 17, WHO Director-General declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. WHO
This is the DRC’s second outbreak caused specifically by the Bundibugyo strain. The virus was first identified in Bundibugyo District, Uganda, during an outbreak in 2007 and 2008, from which it takes its name. A second Bundibugyo outbreak occurred in Isiro, DRC, in 2012. Wikipedia
Samaritan’s Purse has prior experience in both the DRC and West Africa. During the 2014 Ebola crisis in Liberia, the organisation treated patients and ran a public education campaign that reached more than 1.6 million people. In 2018, it established an Ebola treatment centre in the DRC, treating more than 600 patients. WRAL.com
The most recent prior Ebola outbreak in the DRC ended in December 2025 — making the current outbreak the country’s second within five months. CDC
What Happens Next
Samaritan’s Purse expects to open the 50-bed treatment centre in Bunia within a week of the May 27 Reuters interview with Graham. The organisation is coordinating the facility’s establishment with the DRC Ministry of Health. WHO has issued temporary recommendations to state parties and convened its first IHR Emergency Committee meeting on May 19, where measures including deployment of rapid response teams, laboratory confirmation, and the setup of safe treatment centres were discussed. Cross-border preparedness measures are being strengthened in Uganda, and Italian health authorities are managing the two suspected imported cases in Milan under isolation protocols. WHBLWHO
