RECORDING: Responding to Ebola: Leadership, Partnership, and the Challenge of Containment
Speakers discuss the response to the 2026 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), examining the challenges of managing fast-moving health emergencies in resource-constrained settings and the lessons for strengthening global health emergency preparedness.
Featuring:
- Marie Roseline Belizaire, MD, MPH, MSc, A-FETP, PhD, Emergency Director, WHO Africa
- Yap Boum II, PhD, Head of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Africa CDC; Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science & Technology; Co-Founder, iDocta; Co-Founder, Kmerpad
- Moderator: Louise Ivers, MD, MPH, DTM&H, Director, Harvard Global Health Institute
Key Points
- Introduction and Speaker Introductions
- Understanding the Scale and Speed of the Ebola Outbreak
- Insecurity, Displacement, and Challenges to Containment
- Community Engagement: Putting Communities at the Center
- Healthcare Access, Treatment, and Health Systems
- Ebola Response Financing, Accountability, and Transparency
- Vaccine Research and Medical Countermeasures
- Protecting and Supporting Frontline Healthcare Workers
- Preparing the Next Generation of Global Health Leaders
Resources
Community engagement should be the priority for containment of the Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak Nature Health (July 2, 2026)
Ebola in the DRC: Africa CDC’s Yap Boum on the Response, Vaccine Research and Lessons for Future Outbreaks Global Virus Network (September 24, 2026)
Bundibugyo Ebola in DR Congo and Uganda: community-centred response must be operational, not rhetorical The Lancet Infectious Diseases (August 26, 2026)
Bundibugyo Ebola without vaccines or therapeutics: why public health fundamentals matter more than border closures Nature Medicine (June 9, 2026)