How disinformation in Congo is worsening Ebola epidemic

Three weeks since the start of the latest Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the facts are: 397 confirmed cases, including 63 confirmed deaths, according to the latest figures reported by the African Union's Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

And yet: "The community does not believe in this disease. Despite the deaths, people do not believe in it," said John Tumujimbe, head of a team for dignified and safe burials in the small town of Mongbwalu. It is one of the epicentres of the Ebola epidemic in Congo's north-eastern Ituri province.

"We initially thought of malaria, typhoid or diarrhoeal diseases. But after so many deaths, we sent samples to the INRB," Tumujimbe told DW.

The INRB — Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research in the capital, Kinshasa — confirmed that these were indeed cases of Ebola. This led health officials to announce the 17th Ebola epidemic to be recorded in Congo since the virus was first discovered in 1976.

Ebola rumours lead to arson attacks

But health officials say many residents in Mongbwalu rejected this scientific answer.

"When there were the first deaths, there was talk that the coffins were a problem, that it spread from there," said one Mongbwalu resident, who did not want to be named.

Tumujimbe also heard this rumour. "That's how it started: people talked about a coffin that kills people. And then more people died."

Another rumour: aid workers and paramedics were spreading the virus via the antennas of their vehicles. At the end of May, an angry crowd gathered at Mongbwalu's general hospital. They demanded that authorities return the bodies of their deceased, eventually setting fire to a tent belonging to the aid organisation Médecins Sans Frontières. The organisation had to withdraw its staff.

"There was a panic," hospital director Richard Lokudi told DW. "This allowed several suspected cases to escape. Eighteen patients who were under observation have disappeared."

The health workers worry suspected Ebola patients could have passed the disease on to the people who were sheltering them. There is still no vaccine for the Bundibugyo variant of the Ebola virus now circulating.

Familiar rumours blunt Ebola response

Christopher Nehring specialises in researching disinformation, and co-authored a report on the current Ebola epidemic for the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. He said similar rumours pop up in every health emergency.

"They say the disease comes from the lab as a bioweapon; that the vaccination is more harmful than the virus; that there is a simple cure that is being concealed; that the disease is not real. Big Pharma is mentioned either as the profiteer of the crisis or as the ones who originated it," Nehring told DW.

"It's all been known for decades. And it varies, there are 100 different variations of these narratives."

For the report, Nehring sought information from Congolese fact checkers. One of them is Ange Kasongo, founder of Balobaki Check, based in Kinshasa. Talking with DW, she recalled conversations she had with miners — gold mining is important for the economy in the province of Ituri.

"They said that the rumours and myths about death were circulating, but that the people there did not believe them," Kasongo said.

The explanation she was given went: "If a trader wants to earn or mine a lot of gold, he may also resort to mystical acts to eliminate his competitors."

This suggests that economic pressure is also preventing the epidemic from being dealt with openly.

Kasongo highlights another rumour: private messages circulating on WhatsApp have claimed a conspiracy between Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and renowned virologist Jean-Jacques Muyembe — who discovered the virus 50 years ago — to wipe out the population in eastern Congo.

The Balobaki Check team was unable to find any supporting evidence for this claim.

Without reliable media, disinformation spreads easily

The global community is making significantly less money available for emergency aid measures, which makes fighting Ebola harder.

US President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization in 2025 and ordered massive cuts to USAID and the crisis management programme at the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

European governments have also cut funding, partly due to the cost of militarisation efforts in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

For Nehring, this situation has also encouraged the spread of fake news. "If the money for health aid has already been cut, then you cannot talk about bigger budgets for health communication either," said Nehring.

Nevertheless, Ange Kasongo pointed out the authorities were making every effort to communicate clearly. But she also told DW this had its limits. "How can we ensure that information is passed on orally — not just in French, not just in the four national languages?"

According to Kasongo, it's important to get community leaders on board and give them access to reliable information.