In Congo displacement camp, fighting Ebola with sand, oatmeal and one
thermometer but no water
[May 27, 2026]
By JUSTIN KABUMBA and MONIKA PRONCZUK
BUNIA, Congo (AP) — There is one handwashing station and one infrared
thermometer to fight the Ebola epidemic in a camp for 10,000 displaced
people in Bunia, a city at the heart of the outbreak in eastern Congo.
Camp leaders say they tell residents to wash their hands before eating —
with soap for the lucky ones who have it. For the rest, the advice is to
use oatmeal or sand.
“My fear is that we are here with nothing to protect ourselves. We have
no protection, no water or soap, and we live near garbage," Francine
Leve Janguzi, a resident of the so-called ISP camp told The Associated
Press, as she opened an empty tap in a sea of tarpaulin roofs.
Supplies are being rushed to Ituri province as aid groups and healthcare
workers try to stem an outbreak of the infectious disease that has been
declared a global health emergency.
But front-line responders are concerned the disease might spread to the
large displacement camps located near Bunia, where thousands of people
are crammed into limited space, without access to basic hygiene.
“Eastern DRC’s years of conflict and displacement have left health
systems on their knees, and that makes containing this outbreak all the
harder,” said Heather Kerr, Congo director with the International Rescue
Committee.
Almost a million people have been displaced from their homes by conflict
in Ituri, according to the U.N.
That means this Ebola outbreak is “unfolding in communities already
facing insecurity, displacement and fragile healthcare systems,” said
Gabriela Arenas, a regional coordinator at the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The majority of residents of the ISP camp — which owes its name to its
proximity to the Higher Pedagogical Institute, or Institut Superieur
Pedagogique in French — were forced to leave their villages in the Djugu
territory following attacks by CODECO, one of the multiple armed groups
which operate in the region.
“I’ve been here for eight and a half years. Now we’re hearing about
Ebola,” camp resident Janguzi said. “Look at the state of where we’re
sleeping. We don’t have any help whatsoever. We don’t have soap or
water, yet we’re told to wash our hands regularly and be clean.”
There is no vaccine or treatment for the rare Bundibugyo type of Ebola,
which has been spreading undetected for weeks in eastern Congo. Standard
tests struggle to detect the Bundibugyo.
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A woman walks in the camp on the property of the city's ISP (Institut
Supérieur Pédagogique) where internally displaced people reside in
Bunia, Congo, Tuesday, May 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)
Over 1,000 suspected cases and at least 220 deaths had already been
recorded as of Tuesday, including seven confirmed cases in Uganda. But
the World Health Organization and aid groups on the ground say the
outbreak is much larger.
Ebola is a highly contagious virus and can be contracted from bodily
fluids such as vomit, blood or semen. The disease it causes is rare but
severe and often fatal. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle pain,
weakness, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and unexplained bleeding or
bruising.
Eastern Congo has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and
militant groups, some of them with links to foreign countries or the
extremist Islamic State group.
The Rwanda-backed M23 rebels are in control of parts of the region.
While the Congolese government still largely controls the northeastern
Ituri Province, the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak, that control is
tenuous. The Allied Democratic Forces, a Ugandan Islamist group linked
to IS, is one of the dominant rebel groups there and responsible for
violent attacks against civilian targets.
Before the outbreak, humanitarian group Doctors Without Borders said in
an assessment that the insecurity in Ituri had worsened recently,
causing doctors and nurses to flee and leaving overwhelmed health
facilities and in some parts, “catastrophic conditions.”
Gérard Maki, a community leader in the camp, told AP the disease is very
frightening. "I’ve learned that there’s no cure, which is why it scares
me. ... Our government should also do everything possible to find a
solution to this disease.”
___
Pronczuk reported from Dakar, Senegal. Associated Press writer Jean-Yves
Kamale contributed to this report from Kinshasa.
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