JONATHAN M. METSCH, Dr.P.H. – Tracking Emerging Public Health Challenges – May 18, 2026 – Ebola & Hantavirus
The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) said in a report published on Monday that “as infectious disease outbreaks become more frequent they are also becoming more damaging”, warning that pandemic risk is outpacing investments in preparedness and “the world is not yet meaningfully safer”.
Disease outbreaks are becoming more likely due to the climate crisis and armed conflict, while collective action is being undermined by geopolitical fragmentation and commercial self-interest, the report said.
The GPMB is a group of experts established in 2018 by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) after the first large scale Ebola outbreak in west Africa and just before Covid-19. Its latest findings come amid global attention on the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship and a day after the declaration of an international public health emergency after at least 87 Ebola deaths in the DRC.
The two outbreaks “are just the latest crises in our troubled world”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the UN agency’s World Health Assembly in Geneva.
WHO’s representative in the DRC, Anne Ancia, told Reuters that in responding to the Ebola outbreak it had emptied its stocks of protective equipment in the capital, Kinshasa, and was preparing a cargo plane to bring additional supplies from a depot in Kenya. The International Rescue Committee and Médecins Sans Frontières aid groups said they had teams responding to the outbreak.” (1)
“A new and deadly Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda is the latest health emergency forcing African governments to break free of dependency on global donors like the United States as international support has been slashed in half over the past five years.
Shrinking assistance worsened by the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts is colliding with Africa’s fast-growing population of over 1.5 billion people. The Ebola outbreak of a strain with no approved therapeutics or vaccines comes days after a rare hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship put officials on the continent on alert.
Africa faces “an equally dangerous threat” of funding, Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said while launching an initiative for African self-reliance in health financing earlier this year.
“Every time we have an outbreak, many countries start to ask for partners because they don’t have in their budgets funding to respond, even to prepare for these outbreaks,” he added during a briefing on the new Ebola outbreak.
It says official development assistance has dropped sharply, from about $26 billion in 2021 to around $13 billion in 2025, as wealthy nations turn attention instead to wider geopolitical issues like the Iran war and domestic pressures.”
“He added: “What we are seeing here is not a temporary dip of donor funding that we will recover from.””
The need is stark. Africa imports more than 90% of its health commodities such as vaccines and medicines, while health emergencies — from mpox to cholera to Ebola — surged from 153 outbreaks to 242 between 2022 and 2024, according to the Africa CDC.” (2)
“The World Health Organization opened a meeting of global health ministers on Monday amid concern over deadly hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks and uncertainty over announced US and Argentinian withdrawals.
While the rare hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship that has gripped global attention is not officially on the agenda, it is expected to feature prominently in discussions, alongside the latest Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The two outbreaks “are just the latest crises in our troubled world”, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the opening of the UN agency’s annual decision-making World Health Assembly in Geneva.
“From conflicts to economic crises to climate change and aid cuts, we live in difficult, dangerous and divisive times.”
The WHO’s budget has been reduced by around 21 per cent, or nearly one billion dollars. Hundreds of jobs have been eliminated, programmes have been reduced
“Over the past year, cuts to bilateral and multilateral aid have disrupted health systems and widened inequalities,” Guterres said in a video address to the assembly.
The meeting, which runs through Saturday, comes after a difficult year for an mobilizingn weakened by the announced US withdrawal and deep funding cuts.
“The WHO’s budget has been reduced by around 21 per cent, or nearly one billion dollars. Hundreds of jobs have been eliminated, programmes have been reduced,” Swiss Health Minister Elisabeth Baume-Schneider noted in her address.” (3)
“Funding cuts to the WHO have directly weakened disease surveillance efforts, which in turn affect the readiness and preparedness to deliver an effective response to epidemics and pandemics,” Kaja Abbas, associate professor of infectious disease epidemiology and dynamics at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Nagasaki University, said.
Following the recent hantavirus outbreak, passengers and crew members from more than 20 countries on the affected cruise ship, MV Hondius, required coordinated monitoring, contact tracing, medical evacuation, and public health guidance across borders.
Under the International Health Regulations (IHR), the WHO helps to facilitate communication and response efforts among countries, deploys experts, supports laboratory testing and organises emergency responses in case of an outbreak.
Following the Ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda, the WHO has deployed experts, personal protective equipment (PPE), laboratory support and emergency funding while coordinating regional preparedness efforts.
But these sorts of efforts are at risk with the current funding crisis, Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious diseases physician in Dallas, in the US state of Texas, with expertise in emerging pathogens, global health and outbreak response, told Al Jazeera.
As infectious diseases do not respect borders, rapid international coordination is essential, she added.” (4)
1.Pandemic report warns of growing global threat as health teams in Africa move to contain by Kat Lay, https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/18/infectious-diseases-hantavirus-ebola-more-frequent-damaging-pandemic-outbreak
2.Ebola and hantavirus have Africa talking ‘health sovereignty’ as donor support fades, by Farai Mutsaka, https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/world/2026/05/18/ebola-and-hantavirus-have-africa-talking-health-sovereignty-as-donor-support-fades/
3.WHO kicks off annual assembly amid Ebola, hantavirus, US withdrawal, funding cuts, by Agence France-Presse, https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3354010/who-kicks-annual-assembly-amid-ebola-hantavirus-us-withdrawal-funding-cuts
4. Ebola, hantavirus: Is the world prepared for the next pandemic?, by Priyanka Shankar. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/5/18/ebola-hantavirus-is-the-world-prepared-for-the-next-pandemic
curated by Jonathan M. Metsch, Dr.P.H.
Clinical Professor of Environmental Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai