global health crisis: call to pay ebola frontline workers in dr Congo

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has urgently called on Congolese authorities to compensate and protect healthcare workers battling Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The plea comes as the country faces its 17th Ebola outbreak declared on May 15th, with response efforts struggling against the virus due to severe resource shortages in one of the world’s most underfunded health systems.

“It is impossible to combat Ebola without paying those on the front lines,” declared ICN CEO Howard Catton in a statement. The ICN represents over 140 national nursing associations and more than 30 million nurses worldwide. “Healthcare workers risk their lives daily to safeguard their communities, often at great personal cost, yet months into this crisis, many remain unpaid for their critical work.”

The ICN has formally written to Congo’s Minister of Health, Roger Kamba, demanding immediate measures to address unpaid salaries and risk allowances for nurses and other healthcare personnel engaged in the outbreak response. Reports indicate many frontline workers have gone without payment for two to three months.

“The situation demands urgent political leadership and direct intervention,” Catton emphasized. “Our demands are clear: disburse owed wages immediately, ensure regular payments moving forward, and provide the protective measures required for these professionals to perform their duties safely.”

Beyond immediate salary and risk allowance payments, the ICN is urging authorities to commit to consistent future compensation, along with providing adequate personal protective equipment (PPE), insurance coverage, and other essential safeguards.

The current outbreak has already claimed over 2,128 lives from 4,566 confirmed cases within three months of its declaration—figures that surpass the initial phase of the deadliest Ebola epidemic in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. This makes it the second-largest Ebola outbreak on record, with transmission rates outpacing all previous outbreaks.

“At the current trajectory, this epidemic could soon surpass even the devastating West Africa outbreak,” warned World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Wednesday. The Africa CDC reports that seven times more cases and five times more deaths have been recorded in Congo during the first three months compared to the initial phase of the West Africa epidemic.

Funding remains a critical bottleneck. Of the $518 million required for the joint preparedness and response plan launched in early June by the Africa CDC and WHO, only $264 million has been mobilized to date. No specific vaccine or treatment exists yet for the Bundibugyo variant driving this outbreak, further complicating containment efforts.

In the absence of a targeted solution, the WHO is pushing for clinical trials using the Ervebo vaccine, currently approved for the Zaire strain, to assess its efficacy against this variant. “We are finalizing the protocol for submission to DRC regulatory authorities,” confirmed Vasee Moorthy, WHO’s R&D chief, on Wednesday.