Ebola Response Catching Up as Confirmed Cases Rise: World Health Organization

‘The outbreak had a big head start, and we’re still behind,’ the organization’s chief said.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in Bunia, Congo, on May 31, 2026. Michel Lunanga/Getty Images

The response to the Ebola outbreak in Africa is catching up to where it needs to be, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said June 3.

“The outbreak had a big head start, and we’re still behind, but under the leadership of the government of [Congo], we’re catching up,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO’s director-general, told reporters in Switzerland.