Infectious diseases such as hantavirus and Ebola becoming more frequent and damaging, say experts

The world is becoming less resilient to outbreaks of infectious diseases, experts have warned, as health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda scramble to contain an outbreak of Ebola. The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) said in a report published on Monday that “as infectious disease outbreaks become more frequent they are also becoming more damaging”, warning that pandemic risk is outpacing investments in preparedness and “the world is not yet meaningfully

The GPMB is a group of experts established in 2018 by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) after the first large scale Ebola outbreak in west Africa and just before Covid-19. Its latest findings come amid global attention on the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship and a day after the declaration of an international public health emergency after at least 87 Ebola deaths in the DRC. A passenger is sprayed with disinfectant by Spanish officials before boarding a plane at Tenerife airport, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius, Spain, 10 May, 2026. WHO’s representative in the DRC, Anne Ancia, told Reuters that in responding to the Ebola outbreak it had emptied its stocks of protective equipment in the capital, Kinshasa, and was preparing a cargo plane to bring additional supplies from a depot in Kenya. The International Rescue Committee and Médecins Sans Frontières aid groups said they had teams responding to the outbreak. The WHO will host an urgent scientific consultation on Friday, bringing together top experts to collate what is known about the virus and where research and development of vaccines, tests and medicines should be focused. In Geneva, Prof Matthew Kavanagh, director of the Georgetown University Center for Global Health Policy & Politics, said aid cuts may have played a role in leaving the world “playing catch-up against a very dangerous pathogen”. He said: “Because early tests looked for the wrong strain of Ebola, we got false negatives and lost weeks of response time. By the time the alarm was raised, the virus had already moved along major transport routes and crossed borders. “This crisis didn’t happen in a vacuum. When you pull billions out of the WHO and dismantle frontline USAID programmes, you gut the exact surveillance system meant to catch these viruses early. We are seeing the direct, deadly consequences of treating global health security as an optional expense.” The GPMB report finds that new technologies, including novel vaccine platforms such as mRNA , have “advanced at unprecedented speed” and billions of dollars have been invested in pandemic preparedness and response.

Key points

• The GPMB is a group of experts established in 2018 by the World Bank and the World Health Organization (WHO) after the first large scale Ebola outbreak in west Africa and just before Covid-19.
• Its latest findings come amid global attention on the hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship and a day after the declaration of an international public health emergency after at least 87 Ebola deaths…
• A passenger is sprayed with disinfectant by Spanish officials before boarding a plane at Tenerife airport, after disembarking from the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship MV Hondius, Spain, 10 May, 2026.
• WHO’s representative in the DRC, Anne Ancia, told Reuters that in responding to the Ebola outbreak it had emptied its stocks of protective equipment in the capital, Kinshasa, and was preparing a ca…
• The International Rescue Committee and Médecins Sans Frontières aid groups said they had teams responding to the outbreak.