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High-Level DRC-Uganda-South Sudan Ministerial Meeting on Cross-Border Ebola Coordination Held in Kampala

KAMPALA — 22 to 23 May 2026

The Ministers of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan convened a High-Level Ministerial Meeting on Cross-Border Coordination on the Ebola Disease Outbreak in Kampala on 22 and 23 May 2026, under the theme Regional Solidarity, Preparedness and Coordinated Response. The meeting was held with representatives of Africa CDC, WHO, UNICEF, and development and technical partners. The gathering was convened against the backdrop of the WHO declaration on 17 May 2026 of the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern and the Africa CDC declaration on 18 May 2026 of the outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security.

The meeting noted that as of 20 May 2026, confirmed transmission had been recorded in Ituri and Nord-Kivu provinces in DRC, with documented cross-border population movement signals involving Uganda and the broader region. Ministers agreed on a coordinated framework covering surveillance harmonisation, border management, community engagement, and clinical response. South Sudan has not confirmed cases but was included in the meeting given shared borders with both DRC and Uganda. The ministerial communique emphasised regional solidarity as a prerequisite for containing an outbreak in a context marked by humanitarian pressures, insecurity, and high cross-border mobility. In Uganda, the Ebola Treatment Unit at Mulago Hospital was commissioned within six hours of the outbreak declaration and is staffed by Uganda's 146-member Emergency Medical Team, established in 2023 with WHO and European Union support.

Source: WHO Regional Office for Africa ministerial meeting communique, Kampala, 23 May 2026.