Penta ID Network members and Scientific Steering Committee chairs Ali Judd and Pablo Rojo have co-authored a commentary in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health calling for urgent action to ensure children are not excluded from research into treatments and prevention for Bundibugyo virus disease.
The commentary calls on all stakeholders involved in Bundibugyo virus research to ensure that children are meaningfully included in planned, evidence-generating research on medical countermeasures, and critically, that paediatric formulations reach ongoing trials of oral post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) without delay.
The current Ebola disease outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has hit children disproportionately hard. As of 4 August 2026, the proportion of children under five who were diagnosed and subsequently died from Bundibugyo virus disease was significantly higher than among adults. Despite this, children remain at risk of being an afterthought in the research response, a pattern the authors argue is all too familiar.
Delayed inclusion in trials, lack of paediatric dosing guidance, and safety concerns are longstanding barriers to children’s and pregnant and breastfeeding individuals’ access to medical countermeasures during outbreaks. However, as the authors argue, “The question is not only whether it is ethical to include children and people who are pregnant or breastfeeding in research, but also whether it is ethical to exclude them.”
Penta remains committed to working with partners to ensure paediatric research keeps pace with adult research during public health emergencies, so that no child is left waiting for protection that already exists for everyone else.