Humanitarian workers responding to the Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo were evacuated on Thursday from an Ebola treatment Centre in Ituri Province after angry residents attacked the facility following a dispute over the handling of a deceased patient’s body.
The unrest erupted after a pregnant woman reportedly died of anaemia at Nyakunde General Hospital. Relatives demanded the body, but hospital authorities declined to release it immediately in line with Ebola safe burial protocols.
Protesters subsequently ransacked the treatment Centre, forcing four patients to flee, while security forces intervened to restore order. Aid workers from organizations including the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), Samaritan’s Purse and FHI 360 were evacuated to Bunia, the provincial capital.
The incident comes amid growing insecurity affecting the Ebola response. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that 45 aid workers had been injured in violence since the outbreak began in May 2026, while UNICEF warned that only 25 per cent of the funding required to contain the outbreak has been secured.