Trump's USAID freeze may have fuelled Ebola outbreak spreading from DR Congo to Uganda

An Ebola outbreak in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo has rapidly spread across the border into Uganda, resulting in hundreds of suspected cases and multiple deaths. Experts suggest Trump's decision to halt USAID operations may have created conditions for the current outbreak.

An Ebola outbreak originating in the Ituri province of the Democratic Republic of Congo has crossed into Uganda, with health authorities reporting hundreds of suspected cases and a growing death toll. The rapid spread of the virus across an international border has raised serious concerns among global health officials about the capacity to contain the disease.

USAID Cuts Raise Alarm

Public health experts have pointed to Donald Trump's decision to suspend USAID operations as a potential contributing factor to the current crisis. USAID has historically played a central role in funding disease surveillance networks, local health infrastructure, and rapid response teams across Central and East Africa — precisely the systems needed to detect and contain outbreaks like Ebola before they escalate.

With those programmes paused or defunded, health workers in both DR Congo and Uganda have had fewer resources to monitor disease transmission in border regions, where movement of people is frequent and monitoring is difficult. The Ituri province has previously been the site of significant Ebola outbreaks and remains one of the world's most vulnerable regions for such emergencies.

Cross-Border Spread Raises Stakes

The fact that the outbreak has now reached Uganda significantly raises the stakes for regional containment efforts. Uganda shares porous borders with DR Congo and has experienced previous Ebola incursions, though it has in the past demonstrated strong national response capacity, in part supported by international partners including USAID-funded programmes.

Global health organisations are now calling for urgent international support to reinforce containment measures on both sides of the border. The situation underscores ongoing concerns from health advocates who warned at the time of the USAID freeze that cutting funding to disease surveillance systems would leave the world more vulnerable to exactly these kinds of rapidly escalating outbreaks.