Eastern Democratic Republic of CongoHealthNews-derivedmedium confidence

Eastern DRC Ebola Outbreak

Eastern Congo's rapidly growing Ebola outbreak has killed over 1,500 people and is worsening hunger amid conflict and response shortfalls.

Severity score

25.7

Limited · default weighting

Trajectory

Worsening

What this is

The Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has reportedly killed more than 1,500 people. Headlines describe it as the fastest-growing recorded outbreak and say deaths rose by roughly half within about a week.

Conflict, aid cuts and an under-resourced response are obstructing containment. UN-linked reports also warn that the epidemic is worsening food insecurity and leaving thousands more people hungry.

Score breakdown

Loss of life

26

Direct and attributable mortality, normalised across annual and cumulative tolls.

Lives negatively impacted

29

People displaced, injured, food-insecure, exposed or otherwise materially harmed.

Financial cost

12

Direct damage, lost output and health-system spend attributable to the event.

Environmental impact

5

Emissions, habitat and biodiversity loss, contamination and irreversibility.

Trajectory

75

Whether the situation is escalating, and how much worse it is plausibly getting.

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