The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has urgently called on Congolese authorities to compensate and protect healthcare workers battling Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The plea comes as the country faces its 17th Ebola outbreak since May 15, with health systems stretched to their limits due to severe resource shortages.

“You cannot fight Ebola without paying those on the front lines,” declared ICN CEO Howard Catton, representing over 140 national associations and 30 million nurses worldwide. He stressed that healthcare workers risk their lives daily to protect communities, yet many remain unpaid months into the crisis.

Catton highlighted that nurses and other frontline health workers in the DRC have gone two to three months without pay. “This demands urgent political leadership and decisive action,” he stated. “Our message is clear: pay healthcare workers what they are owed, ensure regular payments moving forward, and provide the protections they need to do their jobs safely.”

In a letter to Dr. Roger Kamba, the DRC’s Minister of Health, the ICN urged immediate measures to address unpaid wages, risk allowances, and critical shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), insurance, and other essential safeguards.

The current outbreak, declared on May 15, has already surpassed previous records in speed and scale. With over 2,128 deaths and 4,566 confirmed cases in just three months, it is the second-deadliest Ebola epidemic in history. Only the 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak recorded higher figures, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned.

Africa CDC reports that the number of cases and fatalities in the first three months of this outbreak are seven and five times higher, respectively, than during the same period in the West Africa epidemic. The response remains critically underfunded, with only $264 million of the $518 million required mobilized.

No specific vaccine or treatment exists yet for the Bundibugyo variant driving this outbreak. In the interim, the WHO is pushing for a clinical trial using the Ervebo vaccine, currently approved for the Zaire strain, to be fast-tracked in the DRC. “We are finalizing the protocol for submission to DRC’s regulatory authorities,” said Vasee Moorthy, WHO’s head of Research & Development.

Healthcare systems in the DRC, already among the world’s most under-resourced, are struggling to contain the spread. The ICN’s appeal underscores the dire need for financial and logistical support to prevent further devastation.