1 in 4 Ebola deaths are children in Democratic Republic of Congo's worst outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo is battling its deadliest outbreak of Ebola, caused by a rare strain with no approved treatment. With children losing parents, facing an estimated 60 per cent fatality rate and making up more than a quarter of deaths, experts say children are taking the brunt of the disease.

With more than 9,200 confirmed cases and 4,400 deaths, children are vulnerable 'on so many levels'

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Outside of a treatment centre for Ebola in a northeastern corner of the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the country battles its worst outbreak on record, Neema Nyaloka bounces a baby on her lap. 

Nyaloka survived Ebola herself. Now, she works with UNICEF to take care of the droves of children isolating from their parents who are being treated for it. 

UNICEF is operating 12 other child-care centres next to treatment centres full of Ebola patients. Some kids are waiting for their parents to recover, but others have been left stranded after family members passed away. 

"We have children that are completely orphans, so they lost both parents," Lucia Elmi, director of global emergency programs at UNICEF, said last week.  

It's estimated that at least 1,900 children have been separated from their caregivers because of Ebola. 

It's just one more way that children are bearing the brunt of an outbreak which has spread to at least seven provinces in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and outstripped the 2018-2020 outbreak to become the largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak in Congo's history.

As of Oct. 15, more than 9,200 cases have been confirmed, while deaths have surpassed 4,400, according to the latest numbers from the D.R.C.'s public health institute.  

More than a quarter of those deaths are children. Although most cases are among adults, children have a much higher fatality rate, at 60 per cent compared to 40 per cent for adults, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates. 

Children walk by posters warning people about Ebola on June 24 in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo. (Daniel Buuma/Getty Images)

"Children are really impacted by Ebola on so many levels," Amy Mina, a project leader from Canada with Save the Children, told CBC News. 

"Sixty-one per cent of the children who died of Ebola are under the age of five."

'Fighting for your life'

Children in the region already face high levels of malnutrition and displacement due to ongoing armed conflict. 

The Ituri province in northeastern Congo, where Mina works, is where the outbreak began, and is still the heaviest-hit region, accounting for 73 per cent of cases.

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Save the Children works with schools and communities to provide supplies and training for staff to recognize symptoms among their students. Every morning since schools opened, the temperatures of every teacher and student are checked as part of this work.

But attendance has dropped, Mina says, because many parents worry schools could be transmission sites. They're also avoiding seeking treatment at the hospital for their children for other health issues out of fear of Ebola. 

"Children aren't only dying of Ebola," Mina said. "We are seeing a drop in the number of families and children visiting health centres … and children die of malaria, and dysentery and respiratory diseases."

Cholera is also seeing a rise in the west of the country, with more than 51,000 suspected cases reported since the beginning of 2026. 

A 13-year-old student washes her hands outside her school in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Save the Children is working with schools during the Ebola outbreak, supplying infection-prevention kits and training teachers to counter misinformation about the disease. (Submitted/Save the Children)

When children contract Ebola, they have to be entirely isolated to combat the disease just like adults are, interacting only with caretakers dressed head to toe in fully protective gear, which can be terrifying for kids, experts say. 

Children are already vulnerable to viruses, with fewer reserves to fight off loss of fluids from illness, says Dr. Joanne Liu, director of the Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab at the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University. Liu, a pediatric emergency physician, led emergency responses during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in west Africa.

"Can you imagine fighting for your life on your own without your parents?" she said. "We know that that kind of isolation … creates emotional stress, agitation and irritability in the children."

Fractured response

Amid the surge in Ebola, pregnant women are also avoiding clinics, missing prenatal care and choosing to deliver their babies at home. 

The UN says, compared to last year, maternal deaths in the region have nearly doubled.

And most deaths from Ebola are happening outside of treatment centres, meaning medical workers can't fully track the chains of transmission to stop them. 

"They're dying at home, which represents a huge opportunity for more transmission because they're being cared for by their family, their community members," said Stephanie Hoffmann, a project co-ordinator with Doctors Without Borders in North Kivu, D.R.C.

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Part of the reason this has gotten so "out of control," she said, is because of the gutting of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a foreign aid program dismantled in 2025 due to alleged inefficiency and wasteful spending, according to the Trump administration. Researchers have estimated that the shuttering of services has already caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. 

WATCH | Ebola outbreak the deadliest in Congo's history:

Ebola outbreak now deadliest in Congo’s history

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When USAID was operating in the region, cases of Ebola were detected earlier on, Hoffman said, allowing for tracking and isolating. But with less funding and support, cases had already spread dangerously far by the time the outbreak was official. 

"I can't say that with the current response, there's going to be an end in sight."

The U.S. announced Friday that it had struck a new deal to supply some of the world's poorest nations with maternal and child health supplies, including Congo, through UNICEF. 

Rare strain has no treatment

The current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain — a rare strain of Ebola for which there is no approved treatment or vaccine, although clinical trials are underway.

Congo's deadly Ebola surge is second only to the 2014-2016 outbreak in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which killed more than 11,000 people. 

Two volunteers wearing personal protective equipment carry the coffin of a three-year-old child, presumed to have died of Ebola virus disease, in Bunia, D.R.C., on June 11. (Benediction Murhabazi/AFP/Getty Images)

And it's affecting other regions as well. So far, two people have died of the virus in neighbouring Uganda, which declared itself Ebola free in August. 

Three cases in Kenya are linked to Congo's outbreak — authorities confirmed the third patient on Friday, adding that she is a close relative of the first and second cases. The first case was a Kenyan man who died in early October in Kenya after returning from travelling in Congo. 

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Aid groups say while more treatment centres and funding are badly needed to address the health needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, so is building trust and education.

"There's a lot of mistrust about the response in general," Hoffmann said. "People have a lot of mistrust and a lot of fear about how they'll be treated in a treatment centre. There is a lack of education and awareness about what happens to the body when you have Ebola, what happens in a treatment centre."

It's another battle health-care workers on the ground are fighting, as they desperately try to save lives. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tashauna Reid is a senior reporter and covers the latest in health for CBC News. Her focus is on stories that impact the lives of Canadians and delivering the information they need to lead healthier and better lives. Tashauna is a regular contributor to CBC's The National, CBC News Network and CBC Radio. Since 2009, she has been working on-camera and behind the scenes at Canada’s public broadcaster.