The Ebola outbreak in eastern DR Congo is now the fastest spreading in history, with the death toll rising daily. Working with local faith leaders is vital to counter the misinformation and distrust that is fuelling the epidemic, and to stop it spreading further, faith charities say in a joint statement.
Since being declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, 2026, cases have grown to more than 4,500 and the death toll sits at over 2,100 lives lost. These are not just numbers – each one represents a person – a community member, a wife, husband, a mother, a father, son, daughter, sister or brother. Their lives had meaning and dignity and unfortunately were lost to a preventable disease.
Faith actors play a significant role in responding to public health crises. Their uniquely trusted position within communities enables them to counter misconceptions and misinformation about the disease – which have led to ambulances and health teams being attacked – and promote public health messages, challenge community resistance to prevention and treatment measures, and help reconcile public health requirements with local beliefs and traditions.
In eastern DRC, traditional burial practices – such as holding several days of large communal gatherings and rituals of relatives washing the deceased body – have contributed to the outbreak’s rapid spread. Faith leaders are supporting the adaptation of culturally and religiously sensitive practices, such as safe and dignified burial and funeral rites.
In evaluations of the 2013-2016 outbreak in Sierra Leone, we learned that the inclusion of faith leaders helped improve the acceptance of community protection measures, including ambulances and burial teams, and reduced tensions between family members and healthcare workers.
We have applied these lessons in DRC, where community engagement volunteers are working with Catholic and Anglican churches and mosques to discuss misunderstandings surrounding Ebola and to reduce stigma around reporting symptoms, seeking treatment early, and facilitating safe and dignified burials. While medical institutions and charities are racing to build, staff and equip treatment and isolation centres, faith-based organisations are scaling up community engagement and prevention pillars of the response. We are already responding and want to support a rapid scale up to save lives, but financial support is required to do this.
Health officials have recently stated that this epidemic is growing faster than the West Africa outbreak, with the response getting further behind the outbreak. There is currently a US$65.9M (57%) funding gap, which is the binding constraint on scaling up and sustaining the response. In this situation, speed matters. Timely and continued investment will consolidate gains and prevent further spread.
Recent global aid cuts, combined with a fragile health system already strained by ongoing conflict and displacement, have left the country less resilient and less able to respond quickly and at scale.
Beyond the Ebola outbreak, we also want to draw attention to the national, regional and global drivers of the violence that community members in DRC face every day. We as faith leaders call on the government and international agencies to develop, implement and support peacebuilding and community resilience plans to integrate recovery from Ebola alongside wider plans to address intersecting humanitarian, governance and conflict risks in these affected areas.
Father Edouard Makimba, Director of Caritas Congo, said: “Uncertainties and delays in funding are complicating the response at several levels. In an Ebola outbreak, a rapid response is essential. Contact tracing, community-based surveillance, the transport of samples, the availability of personal protective equipment and the training of healthcare staff all require resources that can be mobilised quickly. At this stage, Caritas is observing, above all, increasing pressure on local facilities. This situation risks undermining the effectiveness of the response and further complicating efforts to protect the most vulnerable people.”
CAFOD, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief, Tearfund
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Notes to Editors
CAFOD is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and part of Caritas International, working with communities across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to fight poverty and injustice, including those worst hit by climate change. The agency works with people in need, regardless of race, gender, religion or nationality. Find out more: www.cafod.org.uk
Christian Aid is the official relief, development, and advocacy agency of 41 sponsoring churches – all members of Churches Together in Britain and Ireland – and a founding member of the Disasters Emergency Committee. Christian Aid works alongside local partners and with people of all faiths and beliefs, to provide humanitarian relief and long-term development support to marginalised communities worldwide, while highlighting suffering, tackling injustice and championing people’s rights.
Islamic Relief is a faith-based relief and development organisation working to save and transform the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. Established in 1984, last year we supported more than 13 million people of all faiths and none in 41 countries, through emergency response and long-term development projects. https://islamic-relief.org/
Tearfund is a Christian charity that partners with churches in more than 50 of the world’s poorest countries. We tackle poverty through sustainable development, responding to disasters and challenging injustice. We believe an end to extreme poverty is possible. For more information about the work of Tearfund, please visit www.tearfund.org.
