Aid teams from the UN World Health Organization ( WHO) “cannot move freely to support the hospitals, even ambulances cannot run. It’s a situation that in public health is a nightmare,” said Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO Representive in DRC.

Staff at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been told to halt all communication with the World Health Organization.

More than a thousand people were admitted to hospitals in the city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid hostilities.

As UN agencies reported "relative calm" on Wednesday in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), humanitarians warned that the chaos caused by advancing M23 rebel forces could fuel a region-wide health emergency.

Japan has sent the Democratic Republic of the Congo 50,000 doses of a vaccine against mpox, previously known as monkeypox.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern in August 2024, a day after the Africa CDC declared a public health emergency of continental security for the clade 1b outbreak in the DRC, where the clade was first detected.

By withdrawing from the World Health Organization and overhauling aid, Trump's new executive orders endanger Americans and the globe, researchers warn. The move also cedes U.S. power to other nations.

The area was also the epicentre of an outbreak of a new strain of mpox, declared a public health emergency of international concern in August 2024. Dr. Marschang warned that the new wave of displacement will make it increasingly hard to track and treat the disease.

Rebels appear to be edging closer to taking control of the key city of Goma in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo following reports that they had captured its airport.

British foreign secretary laments lack of global attention to crises in Africa compared with conflicts in other regions - Anadolu Ajansı

Advances being made by the M23 rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo are "heightening the threat of a regional war," according to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres.

A reporter made a long journey, much of it spent fighting through mud on a motorbike, to reach the epicenter of a viral outbreak in Africa.