The return of Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States weakens research in public health, especially for countries with fewer resources to respond to a health crisis. The cutback of key American funds for disease control and the decline of international research projects threaten the scientific community – particularly the African one – which has repeatedly stated that health requires globally coordinated actions. A clear example is the Ebola outbreak declared in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which particularly concerns experts and health authorities: with over a thousand confirmed cases and 269 deaths, it represents the seventeenth epidemic in this country.