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Description of the crisis
On January 30, 2025, the Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of Sudan Ebola Virus Disease in Kampala District following confirmation by three national laboratories, namely the Central Public Health Laboratories, Uganda Virus Research Institute and Makerere University Laboratories. The index case was a 32-year-old male nurse employed at Mulago National Referral Hospital. The patient presented with a five-day history of high fever, chest pain, and respiratory distress, which later progressed to unexplained bleeding from multiple body sites. The patient suffered multiple organ failure and later succumbed to the disease at Mulago National Referral Hospital.
On February 19, the MoH announced that the last eight confirmed cases had been discharged from the Ebola treatment units in Mbale and Kampala, and the country was on a 42-day countdown to declare the country Ebola free.
On March 1, 2025, the MoH declared a new case that had been confirmed on February 27, 2025. The case was a fourand-a-half-year-old who died in the paediatric acute care unit of Mulago National Referral Hospital, bringing the cumulative confirmed cases to 10 and deaths to 2. The case is related to the other two probable cases that died with Ebola symptoms in Fort Portal town and were buried in Ntoroko district. This has led to categorisation of risk health risks for districts where Ntoroko and Fort Portal city were included on the list of very high risk districts
Two additional cases link to the new cluster have been confirmed, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed cases to 12. Currently, the Uganda Red Cross Society, with support from the IFRC Emergency Appeal, is supporting the Ministry of Health's (MOH) SVD response initiatives in Kampala, Wakiso, Jinja City, Jinja District, Mbale City, Mbale District and Iganga supporting the following areas of intervention/pillars: Coordination, Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE), Community Based Surveillance (CBS), Case Management (including infection prevention and control, safe and dignified burials and EMS), Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (PSS), Community WASH and PGI (Protection, Gender and Inclusion).