Uganda battles Ebola and Mpox amid funding challenges 

Sudanese doctors inside an isolation centre with suspected Ebola patients in Mubende, Uganda on October 27, 2022.

Photo credit: File | AFP

As Uganda battled the outbreak of Mpox, whose infections increased during the December festivities, the country on Thursday confirmed the outbreak of the deadly Ebola after a patient died on Wednesday.

The patient was a 32-year-old male nurse at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala.

Ministry of Health Permanent Secretary Dr Diana Atwine said the emergency response team had been deployed to manage the situation, as more than 40 contact persons were traced and were being monitored. 

The reports came as Democratic Republic of Congo authorities launched their own investigations on 12 possible cases of the deadly virus in its northwest, even though the first tests had come up negative.

The Congo cases under scrutiny, including seven deaths, were in Equateur province, where tropical forests are a natural reservoir for the virus that causes fever, aches and diarrhoea.

Congo has had over a dozen past outbreaks of Ebola, including one in 2018-2020 that killed nearly 2,300 people, the second highest toll recorded for the hemorrhagic fever.

"I hope we'll not confirm this outbreak, because it will be a lot for this country," Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) director-general Jean Kaseya told reporters of the cases being investigated in Congo.

Tests carried out in the provincial capital came back negative for Ebola, another Africa CDC official Ngashi Ngongo told Reuters, adding that authorities were waiting further testing in the capital Kinshasa.

Equateur has recorded three previous Ebola outbreaks, most recently in 2022

In Uganda authorities assured the country that measures had been put in place, giving a toll-free number (0800-100-066) to report any case of suspected Ebola case in the community. 

World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said the global health body would support Uganda to contain the outbreak, offering $1 million.

The Sudan Ebola Virus Disease is a highly infectious haemorrhagic fever that is transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids and tissues. Case fatality rates of Sudan virus disease have varied from 41 percent to 100 percent in past outbreaks, according to WHO. 

The outbreak comes exactly two years after Uganda was declared Ebola-free in January 2023, which had ravaged nine districts in central Uganda.

This week’s outbreak is the second Sudan Ebolavirus outbreak in a decade and its sixth overall for this kind of Ebola.

A statement from the WHO says the body will deploy senior public health experts and mobilise staff from the country office to support all the key outbreak response measures and coordinate with developers to deploy candidate vaccines. 

“We welcome the prompt declaration of this outbreak, and as a comprehensive response is being established, we are supporting the government and partners to scale up measures to quickly identify cases, isolate and provide care, curb the spread of the virus, and protect the population,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “Uganda’s robust expertise in responding to public health emergencies will be crucial in ending this outbreak effectively.”

Dr Atwine said vaccination of all contacts of the dead nurse would commence immediately.

The country is also battling the outbreak of Mpox, with a recorded 2,462 cases and 16 deaths since July 2024.

A new report this month indicated a big increase in Mpox infections in December, and the spread is gaining momentum, according to health officials. 

The European Commission through its Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HERA) last week donated over 10,000 doses of Mpox vaccine to Uganda, as part of the 215,000 doses donated to Africa under the Africa Centre for Disease Control. 

The WHO declared Mpox a public health emergency of international concern noting its potential to spread in many countries. The disease has been detected in Rwanda and DR Congo where over 5,000 and 200,000 doses, respectively, have been delivered. 

The viral disease, whose symptoms include fever, swollen lymph nodes, and rash has spread to over 71 of the 146 districts of Uganda, with major cities such as Kampala, Hoima, Mbarara, and Mbale having the biggest numbers.

Of the $12.9 million that had been set for fighting the disease, a little less than $5 million had been raised by WHO and partners. 

Uganda’s Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng said the people at the highest risk include sex workers and truck drivers. She emphasised that the strain in Uganda is largely sexually transmitted, although it can still be spread through body contact, warning that condoms are not the most effective way of preventing infections. 

Additional reporting by Reuters