While Uganda declared the end of its Ebola outbreak on 28 July 2026, the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continues to escalate rapidly, becoming the second-largest Ebola epidemic on record.
The outbreak is triggering a catastrophic secondary reproductive health emergency. Widespread fear of health facility transmission, coupled with stigma and misinformation, is causing pregnant women to abandon facility-based antenatal care and deliveries, leading to a concerning increase in maternal deaths.
At the same time, contraceptive uptake has declined sharply, with use of short-acting oral contraceptive pills falling by 62.5% and injectable contraceptives by 54.3%. This is particularly concerning in an area with more than 360,000 women of reproductive age, where access to contraception plays a critical role in enabling women to avoid unintended pregnancies at a time when pregnancy carries heightened risks.
To address the rising number of maternal deaths, UNFPA is working closely with partners to scale up risk communication and community engagement, improve the quality of care for pregnant women, and ensure continuity of essential sexual and reproductive health services. In July, UNFPA reached 82,291 people with reproductive health services through operational support provided across 130 health facilities and four Ebola treatment centres. UNFPA also distributed reproductive health kits to 34 health facilities in the affected area, which will support an additional 11,240 people.
UNFPA also scaled up gender-based violence prevention and response activities, as the socio-economic disruptions caused by the outbreak have adversely affected livelihoods and further heightened vulnerability to gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation and abuse. In July, UNFPA and its partners reached 129,380 people with prevention and response interventions.
As the Ebola outbreak continues to escalate in the DRC, with other countries remaining at high risk, urgent funding is needed to sustain life-saving reproductive health and protection services while strengthening prevention and preparedness efforts. UNFPA requires a total of US20ドル.8 million for the Ebola response, but as of 31 July, only 17 per cent of this amount had been funded.