▶
MSF Webcast: Ebola Disease Outbreak
Donate now:
AU: https://msf.org.au/ebolawebcast
NZ: https://msf.org.nz/ebolawebcast
HOW MSF IS RESPONDING TO THE BUNDIBUGYO VIRUS – EVERYTING YOU NEED TO KNOW
On 15 May 2026, the Ministry of Health for the DRC officially declared an Ebola disease outbreak in the northeast of the country, a high conflict area, where MSF teams are operating. On the same day, Uganda’s Ministry of Health announced that the virus had crossed its borders. This led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern.
This outbreak has been caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has a fatality rate of up to 40 per cent, and has no approved vaccine and no approved treatment. There is also limited testing capacity, as it is only the third time in history that there has been a known outbreak of this virus.
So far, the DRC has officially reported more than 630 confirmed cases and 127 confirmed deaths. Never before has an Ebola outbreak recorded so many cases so soon after its declaration.
This emergency webcast is to provide you with an urgent update on how we’re scaling up our medical response to this crisis. We will also provide insights from MSF staff on the challenges of responding to infectious disease outbreaks in complex humanitarian settings.
About the panel
Simon Eccleshall, head of programs at MSF Australia (host)
Simon has worked for MSF for the past seven years including recently in Nigeria as acting head of mission. Simon has over 30 years’ experience managing humanitarian and development assistance programs with governments and NGOs including managing disaster and conflict response operations across the Asia-Pacific region, in Africa and in the Middle East.
Dr Saschveen Singh, tropical infectious disease advisor in MSF’s Paris Medical Department
Saschveen Singh is an Australian doctor and tropical infectious disease advisor for MSF based in Paris. Saschveen is part of the epidemics response medical support team who are supporting the response to this current Ebola outbreak. Saschveen has worked on a number of Ebola outbreaks for MSF in the DRC in 2018/2019 and was part of the early implementation of Ebola vaccines for the Zaire virus (now called the Ebola virus – which is the more common form of Ebola disease.)
Dr Livia Tampellini, MSF deputy head of the emergency unit in Paris
Livia Tampellini is an Italian physician who has been working with Médecins Sans Frontières since 2006. Livia has worked on assignment in countries including Afghanistan, Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Gaza and across a number of projects in West Africa. She has responded to the outbreak of haemorrhagic fevers including working on the Ebola response in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and DRC; and lassa fever in Nigeria. Livia has been in her current position as deputy head of the emergency unit in Paris for two years.