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A weekly development news platform published by UrgeDevWire, produced by Urge Communications. Covering wider East African region.

Inside Health News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire

WHO documents community reintegration effort on Uganda's Ebola frontline

Kampala, 1 July 2026

The World Health Organization's country office in Uganda documented the work of its rapid response team supporting the safe return home of a suspected Ebola patient in Kampala, illustrating the community engagement dimension of the country's outbreak response. A woman who had presented with symptoms consistent with Ebola disease was transferred to the Ebola isolation unit at Mulago Hospital for diagnosis, unsettling her family and neighbours during the period awaiting her test result.

WHO staff worked with officials from the Kampala Capital City Authority to hold a community meeting addressing fears and misinformation ahead of the woman's anticipated return, and to resolve a case of stigmatisation reported at a local shop. When the woman's test result returned negative for Ebola, indicating she had been treated for a bacterial infection, WHO staff and Uganda's national Emergency Medical Team accompanied her home, where family and neighbours had gathered.

WHO said the episode reflects the role of community engagement and risk communication teams working alongside clinical and surveillance functions in the Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease response. More than 90 percent of the region's confirmed infections are concentrated in Ituri Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a major cross border trading hub with Uganda.

Source: World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa.

Inside Health News Desk| East Africa. Urge- DevWire