Uganda and the long shadow of Ebola: what makes it difficult to eradicate?
In the heart of East Africa, the virus continues to be a latent threat. Despite successes in containment, the country's structural and healthcare vulnerabilities remain strong.
In late April 2025, the Ugandan Ministry of Health announced the end of the latest Ebola outbreak. This milestone was achieved after 42 days with no new infections, certified by the World Health Organization. But behind the optimism, a complex reality remains: that of a country forced to live with an invisible enemy that repeatedly returns in increasingly unpredictable ways.
Recent chronicle of Ebola in Uganda
The most recent outbreak, which erupted in Kampala – a metropolis of four million inhabitants and a crucial hub for East Africa – involved 14 people: 12 confirmed, 2 probable. Four died, ten recovered. Patient zero was a nurse who died shortly after contracting the disease, as reported by the Al Jazeera website. The responsible strain is the Sudan virus, for which there is still no approved vaccine. In the absence of established therapies, protocols rely on isolation, tracing, and territorial surveillance.
How many dead?
The 2025 outbreak was the ninth in the country since 2000. Proximity to the Democratic Republic of Congo – where an outbreak with over 2,200 deaths was recorded between 2018 and 2020 – increases exposure to risk. The tropical forests along the border are home to animal species considered natural reservoirs of the virus. But it is socio-health conditions that make Ebola endemic: poor hygiene, hospitals with minimal equipment, and a deep distrust of vaccination campaigns hinder all structural efforts.
What responses to combat Ebola in Uganda?
In response, clinical tests for a specific vaccine against the Sudan virus are underway in the country at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala. Health authorities are relying on the experience gained over more than twenty years of epidemics to contain the outbreaks. Unfortunately, according to experts, without a lasting strengthening of the hospital network in rural areas and a cultural shift in the perception of infectious diseases, the risk of new infections remains high.
The fundamental contribution of Pobic
It is precisely in these forgotten areas that parallel interventions are introduced, bridging healthcare, cooperation, and human rights. A concrete example is the work that we at Pobic have been carrying out for years in the western Rwenzori region. As early as 2016, we launched the Pobic for Women program, in collaboration with the Rena-Foundation, to assist pregnant women who lack access to safe care. The year 2024 marked a significant evolution: the Open Heart Uganda mission enabled three children with severe heart disease to be transferred to Italy to receive life-saving treatment. They are the first of 59 minors who underwent screenings. A humanitarian bridge between two worlds, made possible not only by solidarity, but by a vision focused on the systemic fragilities that Ebola persistently continues to expose.
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