Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda: Ebola Outbreak

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon Excerpts

Thursday 21st May 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

Yes, that is what we are doing. I will be in the region next week and we speak regularly with our ministerial counterparts in the DRC and Uganda. I think some of the system-strengthening work that has taken place since the 2014 outbreak will help, but I am sure the noble Baroness understands the rather unique situation in the DRC and that this outbreak has happened in the east. We see a lack of territorial control over parts of that region by the Government in Kinshasa and the proliferation of armed groups in that part of the world.

[Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Con)]

My Lords, I welcome the noble Baroness’s statement and particularly her proactive engagement on the ground. One of the experiences from the Covid pandemic was the link-up between the private sector and our international partners to scale up with India. Based on the response she gave earlier, that there is still development needed, what representations and engagement are being made, particularly with the private sector and those countries, such as India, that can scale up vaccine production?

[Baroness Chapman of Darlington (Lab)]

It is in an early phase and we are looking at trying to get a vaccine developed. I do not know whether that is specifically with India or with private sector partners, but it may be that a vaccine that has already been tested is effective against this strain. We hope that is the case, though there is an immediate need to get equipment into the region and distributed. We need to make sure that it is used correctly and to plan for how we will be able to distribute vaccine, as and when it is available, because the major barrier here is the complexity and the conflict going on. As the noble Lord will know, many different non-state armed groups are present in the area.