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Public Health Experts Point to Trump Aid Cuts as WHO Declares Emergency Over Ebola Outbreak in DRC, Uganda
"Before the second Trump administration, USAID would have been on the ground," said one public health expert.
May 17, 2026
The World Health Organization's official designation of an Ebola virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda as a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday came just a day after the world learned that the disease was spreading at all—a highly unusual chain of events, public health experts said, and one that suggested the virus has been circulating for weeks without the outbreak being detected.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Sunday that eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases, and 80 suspected deaths had been reported in at least three health zones across Ituri Province in the DRC. In Kampala, the densely populated capital of neighboring Uganda, two lab-confirmed cases and one death were reported within 24 hours of each other.
The victims in Kampala had no apparent link to one another; both had recently traveled from Congo.
The confirmed cases in Congo include some that have been reported in Kinshasa, the capital. The fact that the disease has been able to spread to two large cities with international airports, and the "clusters of deaths across the province of Ituri" point to "a potentially much larger outbreak than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant local and regional risk of spread," said WHO.
"At least four deaths among healthcare workers in a clinical context suggestive of viral haemorrhagic fever have been reported from the affected area, raising concerns regarding healthcare-associated transmission, gaps in infection prevention and control measures, and the potential for amplification within health facilities," the agency said.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, said the numbers being reported could make the outbreak "one of the 10 biggest Ebola outbreaks in history."
"We're just hearing about this now? That makes no sense. Those numbers take weeks to accumulate," said Jha, adding that the fact that suspected cases have been detected in capital cities as well as Bunia, the provincial capital of Ituri, "matters enormously for spread."
Tedros emphasized that the outbreak is considered "extraordinary" because there is no approved vaccine or therapeutics for Ebola caused by the Bundibugyo virus, as this strain is. WHO sent a team to investigate in Ituri after first being notified of suspected Ebola cases on May 5, but initial samples tested negative, as available field equipment was only able to detect the Zaire strain of the disease.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and global partners "need to surge resources in," Jha said. "A slow response creates unnecessary risks to people everywhere."
WHO, which President Donald Trump withdrew the US from last year, said the public health emergency designation was made to ramp up surveillance and infection prevention in the countries where the outbreak is occurring, enhance preparedness in bordering countries, and spread awareness in the international community.
The Ebola outbreak is the second to hit Uganda since Trump slashed foreign assistance funding, including by dismantling the US Agency for International Development. Earlier this month, CNN reported that the administration plans to divert $2 billion in global health program funding to cover the cost of closing USAID.
US foreign spending dropped by 56.9% after Trump shut down the agency as well as smaller aid programs and pushed Congress to rescind previously approved foreign assistance. USAID played a critical role in responding to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
In March 2025, when an Ebola outbreak was reported in Uganda, US officials warned that Trump's actions on foreign assistance at that point, including the termination of USAID grants, was impeding the Ugandan government's ability to procure lab supplies, diagnostic equipment, and protective gear for medical workers.
Dr. Herbert Luswata, president of the Uganda Medical Association, told The New York Times at the time that the country's ability to respond to Ebola was notably different than it had been during a previous outbreak in 2022, when dozens of medical workers volunteered to help treat patients.
The lack of funds and protective equipment had "left many afraid to help this time," the Times reported.
“With no USAID money and CDC expertise, it was like Uganda was left to die," Luswata told the Times.
Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician who survived Ebola in 2014, told CBS Saturday that "before the second Trump administration, USAID would have been on the ground" to respond to the current outbreak.
"The CDC would have been on the ground at a moment's notice, maybe even before a moment's notice, of a new outbreak of Ebola because we were in a bunch of countries," said Spencer. "We created relationships beforehand."
Last year, Trump megadonor Elon Musk, who was then leading efforts to slash government spending at the Department of Government Efficiency, said DOGE had "accidentally" canceled US support for Ebola prevention but claimed the funding had been "restored...and there was no interruption.”
But a number of Ebola-related contracts were in fact cut, accounting for $1.6 million out of $2.2 million that had previously gone toward the prevention efforts.
In recent weeks, public health experts have also warned that Trump's cuts to the CDC and other public health programs have left the US ill-prepared to respond to the hantavirus outbreak that originated on a cruise ship.
Jeremy Konyndyk, president of Refugees International and former leader on USAID's Covid-19 and disaster relief response work, said the current Ebola outbreak is "very worrying" and appeared to be the result of a "massive surveillance failure."
"It is really unusual for an Ebola outbreak to get to this scale before being detected; particularly in DRC, which has a lot of Ebola experience," said Konyndyk.
"I can't help but wonder," said Konyndyk, "if the drawdown of USAID and CDC health interventions by DOGE undermined some of the surveillance and detection initiatives that might have helped to catch this earlier."
WHO emphasized that the current crisis in DRC and Uganda requires "international coordination and cooperation to understand the extent of the outbreak, to coordinate surveillance, prevention, and response efforts, to scale up and strengthen operations and ensure ability to implement control measures."
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Judge Rejects Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Bid to Reopen Asylum Claim
The judge ruled Abrego Garcia had presented "insufficient evidence" to show that the Trump administration planned his "imminent removal to Uganda."
Oct 02, 2025
Kilmar Ábrego García, the man whom the Trump administration wrongly deported to El Salvador earlier this year, has been denied a bid to reopen his asylum case.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Immigration Judge Philip P. Taylor rejected Ábrego García's asylum request, as he found "insufficient evidence" to show that the Trump administration planned his "imminent removal to Uganda," even though the US Department of Homeland Security wrote in a social media post in late August that he would be processed for removal to that nation.
In explaining his ruling, Taylor noted that the government had not yet filed any paperwork to send Ábrego García to Uganda, and a government attorney said that deporting him to Uganda was merely a possibility not a foregone conclusion.
Ábrego García now has 30 days to appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals.
The Trump administration this past June complied with a Supreme Court order to facilitate Ábrego García's return to United States after it acknowledged months earlier that he had been improperly deported to El Salvador, where a US immigration judge had ruled years earlier he faced direct danger from gang threats against him and his family.
While imprisoned in El Salvador’s infamous Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), Ábrego García's attorneys allege he was subjected to physical and psychological abuse "including but not limited to severe beatings, severe sleep deprivation, inadequate nutrition, and psychological torture."
Upon his return, the US Department of Justice promptly hit him with human smuggling charges to which he has pleaded not guilty.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi have also accused Ábrego García of being a member of the gang MS-13, although they have produced no evidence to back up that assertion.
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Jurists Urge ICJ to Remove 'Christian Zionist' Judge from Gaza Genocide Case
International Court of Justice Vice President Julia Sebutinde recently told members of her church in Uganda that "the Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel."
Aug 26, 2025
A global legal advocacy group on Monday called on the International Court of Justice in The Hague to "immediately remove" ICJ Vice President Julia Sebutinde from the ongoing Gaza genocide case following the publication of remarks in which the judge said that God wants her to support Israel.
Santiago Canton, secretary general of the Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, sent a letter to ICJ President Justice Yuji Iwasawa citing an article published by the Ugandan newspaper Daily Monitor, which reported that Sebutinde delivered remarks on August 10 at Watoto Church in Kampala.
Sebutinde discussed the ICJ's January 26, 2024 issuance of six provisional measures, including orders for Israel to do everything possible to prevent genocidal acts, ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Gazans, and preserve evidence of Israeli crimes committed in the strip. The Ugandan was the sole member of the 17-judge panel to vote against all six measures.
"There are now about 30 countries against Israel," Sebutinde said. "The Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel. The whole world was against Israel, including my country."
Indeed, in January 2024 the Ugandan government issued a statement clarifying that Sebutinde's votes were her "individual and independent opinion" and did "not in any way reflect the position of the government of the Republic of Uganda."
Sebutinde told members of her church—which gained international infamy as its pastor pushed for the current nationwide law punishing "aggravated homosexuality" with a death sentence—that Israel's annihilation and starvation of Gaza is a sign of the biblical "End Times," a period of great suffering followed by the "second coming" of Jesus Christ, a climactic battle between the forces of good and evil, and God's judgment of all people living and dead.
Many Christian Zionists believe that the restoration of Israel as a nation—which occurred in 1948, largely via the ethnic cleansing of Arabs from Palestine—is a prerequisite for Christ's "return."
"I have a very strong conviction that we are in the End Times," Sebutinde told Watoto's congregation. "The signs are being shown in the Middle East. I want to be on the right side of history. I am convinced that time is running out. I would encourage you to follow developments in Israel. I am humbled that God has allowed me to be a part of the last days."
Canton's letter states: "Should it be confirmed that these are accurate quotes of her remarks, the International Commission of Jurists considers that Vice President Sebutinde's continued role in the context of ongoing proceedings before the court, such as South Africa v. Israel, and at least any other proceedings concerning Israel or the state of Palestine, would be profoundly damaging to the court's impartiality, propriety, and integrity, or to perceptions thereof, as well as to the to public confidence in the court."
"These remarks raise serious concerns as to whether her decisions were taken solely on the basis of facts and in accordance with the law, but rather may have also been taken under 'improper influences,' specifically her religious and political beliefs regarding
Israel and the purported approaching of 'End Times,'" the letter continues.
"While the vice president certainly enjoys the right to freedom of expression, this right is not absolute, and there are certain limitations on the right that are particularly applicable to members of the judiciary," Canton stressed. "I therefore respectfully urge you and the court to conduct an investigation into these allegations, and if substantiated, undertake remedial actions."
"In the interim," he added, "I would request that you act to immediately remove Vice President Sebutinde from participating further in proceedings in the South Africa v. Israel case."
Canton's letter follows similar calls by the Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), and international jurists including Kenneth Roth, the former head of Human Rights Watch—one of a growing number of organizations accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza—who urged Sebutinde to recuse herself from the ICJ case.
Michael Becker, a professor at Trinity College Dublin's School of Law and former ICJ associate legal officer, told Middle East Eye that "it is never a good idea for an ICJ judge to share their own views on a pending case in a public forum."
"It is worse to suggest that your position is to be 'on the side' of a specific party to the case," he added.
Sebutinde has also come under fire for apparently plagiarizing much of her dissenting opinion in the ICJ's July 2024 advisory opinion that Israel's occupation of Palestine, including Gaza, is an illegal form of apartheid that must end as soon as possible.
South Africa filed its genocide case against Israel in December 2023 and subsequently submitted thousands of pages of evidence including alleged statements of genocidal intent by prominent Israelis including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a fugitive from the International Criminal Court wanted for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including murder and forced starvation.
More than two dozen nations and regional blocs are supporting South Africa's case, which is not expected to produce a ruling for years.
Israel's 690-day assault and siege on Gaza have left at least 230,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing. Israeli forces are ramping up Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza amid a growing famine that has killed hundreds of people, many of them children.
The ICJ has issued a series of orders for Israel to prevent genocidal acts, stop attacking the southern city of Rafah, and allow the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel is accused of ignoring all of these orders, and has reportedly proposed building a concentration camp over the ruins of Rafah to house ethnically cleansed Palestinians.
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