Ebola is rising, so is femicide....communities at the breaking point

Right now, as the world scrolls past headlines, a crisis is unfolding in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda that deserves more than a passing glance.

The World Health Organization declared the Ebola outbreak in DRC a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on May 17, 2026.

Over 500 suspected cases have been reported, with more than 130 deaths, primarily in Ituri and North Kivu provinces.

The outbreak has now crossed into Uganda. What makes this especially alarming is that this involves the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola — one for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.

But beyond the numbers, this is a story about people and communities already on their knees.

Over 26.5 million people in DRC are already facing severe hunger. Aid cuts have weakened health surveillance systems, delaying early detection and leaving families far more exposed than they should be.

This did not happen by accident. It happened because the world decided some crises were worth funding and others were not.

And as always in situations like this, women are carrying the heaviest load.

Research by care.org shows that women are more likely to care for sick people at home and to participate in burial practices that increase their exposure to the virus.

They are on the frontlines not as officials or decision-makers, but as mothers, daughters, nurses, and community caretakers.

For women and girls, a disease outbreak like this can mean reduced access to maternal healthcare, family planning, and services around preventing violence with consequences that last long after the outbreak is contained.

UNFPA has warned that in communities already affected by conflict and displacement, the economic effects of disease outbreaks increase the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse for women and children. So the danger does not stop at the virus itself.

What concern me most is how familiar this pattern is.

Vulnerable communities, already struggling, being hit hardest by something they did not cause and had the least resources to prepare for. The response too slow. The funding too little. The attention too brief.

UNICEF has called for immediate, safe, and sustained humanitarian access to affected communities in eastern DRC, a region where humanitarian needs are already high due to ongoing conflict.

We should be paying attention. Not out of fear, but out of solidarity. The women in Ituri and North Kivu are not statistics but someone's mother, someone's friend, someone who deserves the same urgency the world extends to crises elsewhere.

Awareness is the first step. Demand better from your leaders, your governments, and the institutions that decide where help goes. Because right now, it is not going where it is needed most.

And it is not just Congo.

Right here in Kenya, girls are disappearing. Women are being killed by the people who were supposed to love them.

Children are being violated in places that were meant to be safe. The world is burning in too many places at once, and the ones paying the price are almost always the most vulnerable; women, girls, children.

We cannot afford to not pay attention.

Not from Congo, not from Gaza, not from our own streets.