World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated Wednesday that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s comments on Ebola demonstrate a lack of understanding of the agency’s role.
Rubio criticized the WHO on Tuesday, saying it was “a little late” in identifying a deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
“The lead is obviously going to be CDC and the World Health Organization, which was a little late to identify this thing, unfortunately,” Rubio told reporters.
Ghebreyesus, during a press conference in Geneva, emphasized that the WHO does not replace “the countries’ work; we only support them.”
“It could be from a lack of understanding of how [the International Health Regulations] work and the responsibilities of WHO and other entities,” he said regarding Rubio’s comments.
Lucille Blumberg, a professor at the University of Pretoria and chair of the WHO’s expert committee on the outbreak, noted that travel restrictions are “not supported” under the WHO’s regulations for outbreak prevention and response. She added: “It’s important to remember how Ebola is transmitted. It requires direct contact with blood and body fluids of an infected person. So it’s not casual contact; it’s not airborne.”
The virus causing the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, suspected of killing more than 130 people, is less common than other Ebola-causing viruses. This complicates the response because there are no specific treatments or vaccines.
Dr. Tom Ksiazek, a University of Texas Medical Branch virologist and veterinarian who directed the CDC’s Special Pathogens Branch — which first identified the virus in 2007 — stated that the Bundibugyo virus has caused two other outbreaks, all in the same region of the Congo River basin.
Other viruses that cause Ebola include Zaire virus, Sudan virus, and Tai Forest virus, which is not known to cause large outbreaks.
The Trump administration formally began withdrawing the U.S. from WHO in July 2020 when the United States was the organization’s largest single donor. President Trump accused the WHO of helping China “mislead the world” about the coronavirus outbreak. The WHO denied political bias and defended its response.
The withdrawal did not take effect because former President Joe Biden reversed the decision on January 20, 2021 — his first day in office — and restored U.S. participation and funding to the organization.
After returning to office in January 2025, Trump again moved to pull the U.S. out of WHO. Due to a one-year notice period required by U.S. law, the withdrawal was not immediate. The United States formally exited the WHO in January 2026, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
