By Zachery Onyango | Project Leader
Dear donor,
Uganda's declaration as Ebola-free is a moment of celebration, but communities along the Uganda–DRC border understand that vigilance must continue. The Democratic Republic of Congo is experiencing an unprecedented Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, with confirmed infections recently surpassing 4,000 and deaths approaching 1,850.
The continuing crisis demonstrates why preparedness must remain active even when one country has successfully ended transmission. Communities on both sides of the border are connected by commerce, transportation, family relationships, agriculture, and social activities. These connections are important for livelihoods but can also create pathways for infectious diseases to move between populations.
Development Alert is therefore continuing to promote preparedness through community awareness, local surveillance, hygiene education, rapid communication, and engagement with frontline community structures. Our goal is to ensure that people know where to report health concerns and understand the importance of seeking reliable information during emergencies.
Local leaders remain central to this work. Village leaders, religious leaders, teachers, youth representatives, women's groups, transport operators, and community health volunteers can identify concerns quickly and help communicate accurate information to residents.
We are also preserving the response capacity developed during Uganda's outbreak. The field motorcycle purchased to support contact tracing, emergency response, and delivery of supplies remains an important tool for reaching communities where transportation challenges could otherwise create dangerous delays.
Uganda's victory demonstrates what strong community-based action can accomplish. The continuing crisis in the DRC reminds us why that preparedness must be protected.
Your support is helping ensure that Uganda remains ready, that border communities remain informed, and that the lessons learned during the outbreak continue protecting lives across the region.
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
