Support Community-Led Ebola Containment in Uganda

Dear donor,

Uganda's successful containment of Ebola has provided communities with important lessons that can strengthen public health preparedness for years to come. Following 20 confirmed cases, the country successfully completed the required monitoring period and declared the outbreak over. The response demonstrated how quickly communities can act when surveillance, healthcare services, local leadership, and community participation work together.

Development Alert is now helping ensure that these lessons are not forgotten. Community volunteers who participated in awareness and surveillance activities continue serving as important sources of health information. Local leaders remain engaged, while schools, markets, transport hubs, and community institutions continue providing platforms for health education.

This long-term preparedness is particularly important because the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo continues to experience a severe Ebola outbreak. Recent reporting places the number of confirmed infections above 3,000, highlighting the continuing risk to communities with close cross-border connections.

Our teams are therefore focusing on strengthening community readiness rather than allowing preparedness activities to disappear after Uganda's declaration. We are encouraging communities to maintain functional communication channels, identify local health concerns early, and cooperate with health authorities whenever alerts emerge.

The goal is to create communities that are prepared before the next emergency occurs—not communities that must wait until an outbreak has already spread.

Your support is helping transform the experience of the 2026 Ebola response into lasting community resilience. Uganda's success gives us hope, while the situation in the DRC reminds us that regional preparedness and solidarity remain essential.