Ebola and disinformation: JED’s annual report highlights challenges facing media in the DRC

In Kinshasa, the NGO Journaliste en danger (JED) presented its 2026 annual report on Ebola rumors and disinformation and the pressures facing media in the DRC. The report says the health crisis, violence, public mistrust and media-sector precarity make access to reliable information more difficult and can delay care and hinder epidemic surveillance. Declared on May 15, 2026, the country’s seventeenth Ebola outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, had recorded 8,978 confirmed cases, 4,336 deaths and 2,356 recoveries across seven provinces by October 10. JED cites the June 30 burning of the Bafwabongo treatment center in Nia-Nia, which led two confirmed patients and seven suspected cases to flee.