The US has imposed a travel ban on non-US passport holders who have been in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days in response to the Ebola outbreak. Public health experts, African health agencies and regional officials warn that the measure could do more harm than good.
The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday as cases continue to spread. New infections have been reported in areas of the DRC controlled by armed groups, including a recent case in South Kivu and cases concentrated in Ituri and North Kivu provinces. An additional case in the North Kivu capital, Goma, has prompted urgent calls to reopen the city’s airport to speed aid and medical supplies into the region.
The travel restriction has already had visible consequences: it disrupted the DRC men’s football team’s World Cup preparations and led to the diversion of a Detroit-bound flight to Canada when a passenger who had been in the DRC was discovered on board.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said governments must protect their populations, but warned that blanket travel bans and border closures are not the right tool for outbreaks. Such measures, it said, can foster fear, harm local economies, discourage timely reporting, complicate humanitarian and medical operations and push travel onto informal, unmonitored routes — potentially increasing public health risks rather than reducing them.
A particular concern is the strain driving this outbreak: the Bundibugyo Ebola virus. There are currently no licensed vaccines or proven therapeutics specific to this strain. Africa CDC described this gap as a symptom of deeper inequities in global health innovation, noting the strain was identified nearly 20 years ago and arguing that if it threatened wealthier countries, medical countermeasures would likely already exist.
Leading regional health figures echoed that view. Dr Githinji Gitahi, CEO of Amref Health Africa, said travel bans ‘stop solidarity’ and that the fastest way to protect everyone is to invest in outbreak control at the source rather than isolate affected countries. Uganda’s information minister, Chris Baryomunsi, called the US move an overreaction and said Uganda has experience and capacity to manage Ebola and other epidemics.
As of Wednesday the WHO linked the outbreak to about 139 deaths and roughly 600 suspected cases in the DRC, plus two confirmed cases in Uganda. Researchers at Imperial College London have revised their outbreak-size estimates upward using the latest WHO figures, underscoring the evolving situation and the urgent need for coordinated response, access for health workers and development of strain-specific medical countermeasures.
