Burundi President: Base Ebola response on science, not border closures

The Burundian President and current African Union (AU) Chair, Évariste Ndayishimiye, has called on the international community to let science, rather than fear, guide its response to the escalating Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo and Uganda.

Addressing a virtual summit of over 500 health officials and policymakers, President Ndayishimiye strongly warned against unjustified travel restrictions and border closures. Instead, he urged nations to bolster cross-border cooperation and ramp up support for frontline health workers.

“Africa is united, ready to act, and determined to protect its populations,” Ndayishimiye said, calling for immediate intervention to contain the epidemic and secure the continent's long-term health security.

A growing crisis

The call for action comes as the outbreak intensifies across Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 

As of June 15, 2026, the region has recorded more than 800 confirmed cases and nearly 200 deaths.

Stressing that "no country can face a health crisis of this magnitude alone," Ndayishimiye advocated for the rapid mobilization of a $518 million joint response plan coordinated by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO). 

He urged African governments, private-sector leaders, and international partners to immediately convert financial pledges into funding to bolster surveillance, treatment, and prevention.

An immediate and unwavering response

Echoing the President's urgency, the Chairperson of the AU Commission, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, emphasized that delayed funding directly translates to lost lives.

"Every day lost is a life lost," Youssouf warned, stressing the critical need to instantly fund intervention teams, deploy vaccines, and secure diagnostic tools.

Youssouf challenged international partners to back their statements of solidarity with concrete financial commitments to halt the disease's spread.

Building long-term resilience

Beyond the immediate emergency response, the AU leadership is looking toward the future. Youssouf underscored the necessity of building sustainable healthcare capacities in Africa to prevent future pandemics. 

This includes aggressive investment in local scientific research, innovation, and regional production of vaccines to end Africa's dependence on external supply chains.

The summit concluded with a unified message from the AU: strengthening national health systems, through advanced laboratory development, robust epidemiological surveillance, and sustainable internal funding, is no longer optional. For Africa, saving lives today and building health resilience for tomorrow are inseparable goals.