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Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
Ebola response ramps up in DRC as WHO declares international emergency
A large-scale response has begun to an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that went undetected for two months, and is already one of the biggest on record. The epidemic involves the extremely rare Bundibugyo variant, for which there have been only two past outbreaks and are no approved vaccines or treatments. World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus fast-tracked a 17 May declaration of a public health emergency of international concern, and treatment centres are now being set up, isolation tents installed in hospitals, and medical supplies shipped to the outbreak zone. DRC has contained 16 previous Ebola outbreaks and has world-leading expertise, but the epidemic is unfolding in conflict-affected areas, which – amidst global aid cuts and a fraught political situation – could complicate the response. The first Ebola flare-up to unfold in an active conflict zone, in North Kivu between 2018 and 2020, became the second-worst outbreak in history. For more on the new outbreak and lessons from the past, read: As Ebola resurfaces in DR Congo, so do critical questions about how to respond.
Despite reforms, world not safer from pandemics
With 160 deaths already suspected in the latest Ebola outbreak, a new report from the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board – a body set up eight years ago in the wake of the West Africa Ebola epidemic – paints a bleak picture of the world’s readiness to face pandemics. The report concludes that the past decade of public health emergencies shows that “the world is not substantially safer from their impact, with rising economic and social costs, weakening access to medical countermeasures, declining financing, and societies emerging poorer, more unequal and more divided”.The GPMB argues that outbreaks are becoming more frequent and more disruptive, driven by climate change, urbanisation, and weakening international cooperation. Reforms, including those introduced after COVID-19, are not keeping pace with the rising risk, and the GPMB points to a “profound erosion of trust and unresolved inequities” in access to healthcare and vaccines as key vulnerabilities. During the recent mpox outbreaks, for example, vaccines took 24–27 months to reach people in affected low-income countries, even more time than the 17 months it took during COVID-19.
A decade after World Humanitarian Summit, aid reform looks for a new script
This weekend marks 10 years since the optimism of the World Humanitarian Summit birthed a slew of reform promises meant to transform emergency response and revitalise aid. We’ve come a long way… or perhaps not. Some recent developments: The latest aid summit, the United Kingdom’s just-concluded Global Partnerships Conference, was held by a government that ordered deep donor aid cuts. The world’s biggest slasher by volume, the United States, cut its aid by at least $34 billion last year, but was praised by the UN for offering $1.8 billion in humanitarian cash to 21 strategically chosen locations. Humanitarians, meanwhile, are tackling the poly-crises of 2026 armed with the budgets of 2019 and the reform ideas of 2016. So, beyond Grand Bargains or resets, where does the next reform movement live? The people behind a global Lancet Commission spent two years thinking about it, and offered up their ideas on 20 May. Some core themes behind 76 pages of small-type analysis: Upend the economics that drive today’s status quo, and build oversight and enforcement into tomorrow’s system.
El Niño threatens renewed climate disruption for Africa
The warning signs are flashing for a strong El Niño this year – which spells bad news for parts of Africa. In southern Africa the climate phenomenon typically means drought and high temperatures in a region dependent on rain for subsistence agriculture. The most recent El Niño, in 2023-2024, shriveled the harvests of millions of farmers and forced six African countries to declare states of emergency. This year’s climate event – due to strengthen through the remainder of 2026 – is accompanied by a Strait of Hormuz-related surge in fuel and food costs already doing damage to household budgets. In East Africa, an El Niño is usually associated with heavy flooding in parts of Kenya, Somalia, and Tanzania – washing away crops, livestock, and infrastructure. The complexity of the weather system means there’s also a likelihood of drought in neighbouring Ethiopia, southern Sudan, and northern Uganda, and struggling governments hoping for humanitarian support will have to reckon with significantly slimmer international aid budgets.
European push for stronger deportation powers temporarily delayed
Negotiators for European Union member states and members of the European Parliament temporarily ended three rounds of talks on 21 May, failing to reach agreement over a controversial law aimed at increasing the power to deport rejected asylum seekers. The bill paves the way for what critics call “ICE-style” raids on private residences and “other relevant premises”, longer detention periods, and the establishment of so-called “return hubs” in third countries. Despite coming under heavy criticism by rights groups, the European push for greater deportation powers appears to be a question of when, not if: The negotiations stalled over when the provisional law would come into force, rather than questions of substance. Negotiations are set to resume on 1 June. Meanwhile, on 15 May, all 46 member states of the Council of Europe – which includes all EU member states – signed on to a political declaration that critics fear will weaken legal protections for migrants, and make it easier for states to carry out deportations.
A surging health crisis in Gaza amidst diplomatic standstill
Residents of the Gaza Strip are continuing to face a major, unaddressed public health crisis as temperatures soar and infestations of rodents and insects surge unabated. Sanitation systems have long-since been destroyed, and Israel is still blocking medical supplies and other essential items from entering the enclave. More than seven months since the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, reconstruction and recovery plans are completely stalled, the so-called Board of Peace set up to implement the US-brokered truce is is starved of cash, and the Palestinian technocratic committee that is supposed to be administering Gaza is stuck in Egypt. Israeli military attacks on Gaza are on the rise, leaving residents fearful of a broader assault as Israel expands the territory it controls in the enclave to around 64%. On 18 May, Israeli forces intercepted the remaining 50 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which were aiming to raise awareness about the dire situation in Gaza and break Israel’s nearly two-decade blockade of the territory. The interception follows Israel’s capture of 22 boats at the end of last month. For more, read this from Palestinian journalist Nour ElAssy: Pushing back against erasure: The Gaza flotilla is more important now than ever.
Weekend read
Aid workers face the trauma of war. Employers must do better
A humanitarian worker reflects on his PTSD, why aid groups lag behind on understanding trauma, and how they can do better.
And finally…
Norwegian journalist questions India’s Modi, sparks debate
Meta appears to have reinstated a Norwegian journalist’s Instagram and Facebook accounts, shortly after she was suspended following controversy and online debate over her questions to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On 18 May, journalist Helle Lyng asked the three-time Indian prime minister, in Oslo for an official visit, “Why don’t you take some questions from the freest press in the world?" Modi did not reply, and clips of the exchange went viral. Some Indian news outlets said she had been disrespectful towards a head of state, while Lyng faced a wave of online harassment. Modi’s primary political opponent, Rahul Gandhi, seized on the video as an example of the world seeing “a compromised PM panic and run from a few questions.”
Modi has not held a solo press conference since taking office in 2014, and his government has been accused of stifling dissent, disenfranchising minority communities and of large-scale land grabs, about his views on access to information given the fact that India ranks 157th in an annual list of press freedom. Norway tops the annual list of 180 countries. Some were also rankled by Lyng’s later questions about human rights in India, with a senior Indian diplomat defending India’s record of democracy (it is the largest in the world) and constitutional guarantees of freedom of thought, expression, belief and worship.
Lyng, who reportedly gained tens of thousands of followers on X following the exchange, stood by her comments about press freedom, but also stated: “I want to make it very clear. I have a lot to learn about India. In general, I think Western media do.”
