# WHO and CEPI deploy Anthropic's Claude to combat Ebola outbreak in DRC

Digest AI · Enterprise & Industry · published 2026-09-19T00:00:00Z

Canonical: https://digestai.news/story/who-and-cepi-deploy-anthropic-s-claude-to-combat-ebola-outbreak-in-drc

## Summary

Health organizations combating an outbreak of the Bundibugyo strain of Ebolavirus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are using Anthropic's Claude to accelerate data analysis and response operations. The outbreak has resulted in nearly 8,000 confirmed cases, with almost half having died, and has no approved vaccine. The deployment is organized through a partnership convened by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) alongside WHO AFRO, the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB), and Anthropic.

Teams at WHO AFRO created a Claude skill to extract data from district PowerPoint decks, check figures against previous days, flag anomalies, and draft daily situation reports. WHO AFRO reports that assembling a situation report now takes under an hour, down from an entire day. Responders are also using Claude to run multiple disease forecasting models simultaneously to inform treatment center placement, while CEPI uses it to organize data evaluating vaccine proposals and cross-reactivity research.

In laboratory settings, INRB is using an AI workbench called Claude Science to assemble viral genomes and construct lineage trees using natural language rather than command-line bioinformatics tools. WHO AFRO is also using Claude to clean contact and case lists for a separate chikungunya outbreak.

## Key points

- Nearly 8,000 confirmed cases of the Bundibugyo Ebola strain have been reported in DRC, killing almost half of those infected.
- WHO AFRO built a Claude skill that reduced daily outbreak situation report preparation time from all day to under an hour.
- INRB is using the Claude Science workbench to assemble viral genomes via natural language prompts instead of manual terminal commands.

## Why it matters

The deployment demonstrates practical, operational generative AI use in public health crises, cutting data processing bottlenecks across epidemiology, bioinformatics, and logistics.

## Sources

1. [The Situation Report: A rare strain of Ebola, with no confirmed vaccine, is spreading through the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. World health organizations are using Claude to move as fast as possible to combat it.](https://anthropic.com/features/ebola-response) (anthropic.com, 2026-09-19, primary source)

## Cite

Digest AI, "WHO and CEPI deploy Anthropic's Claude to combat Ebola outbreak in DRC", 19 September 2026, https://digestai.news/story/who-and-cepi-deploy-anthropic-s-claude-to-combat-ebola-outbreak-in-drc

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