Disaster Response Uganda Project #76349

Support Community-Led Ebola Containment in Uganda

by Development Alert

Support Community-Led Ebola Containment in Uganda

Project Report | Aug 18, 2026
Keeping Uganda's Border Communities Alert and Prep

By Zachery Onyango | Project Leader

Dear Donor,

The declaration of Uganda as Ebola-free brought tremendous relief to families across the country. Yet for communities living along the Uganda–Democratic Republic of Congo border, the emergency is not simply a memory. The continuing transmission of Ebola in the DRC requires sustained vigilance, preparedness, and community engagement.

The latest available regional figures show that the DRC has reached 4,945 confirmed cases and 2,325 deaths as of August 16. The outbreak has surpassed the country's previous Ebola record and is spreading rapidly in a difficult operating environment.

Development Alert is continuing to work with border communities to ensure that the lessons learned from Uganda's response remain active. Community volunteers are helping share accurate health information and encouraging residents to report unusual illness promptly. Local leaders are being encouraged to maintain communication with health facilities and community health structures.

Our awareness activities continue in locations where people regularly interact, including markets, schools, transport stages, places of worship, and community gathering points. These activities emphasize practical prevention rather than fear. Residents are encouraged to seek reliable information, maintain appropriate hygiene, and cooperate with health authorities if an alert occurs.

Transport workers and boda boda riders remain important partners because they regularly connect villages, trading centers, and border communities. Engaging these groups strengthens the flow of accurate information throughout communities.

The emergency motorcycle remains an important part of our preparedness capacity, particularly in remote areas where poor roads can delay field response. It allows teams to travel quickly for community visits, follow-up activities, awareness campaigns, and delivery of essential supplies.

Uganda's Ebola-free status is an achievement we celebrate. But our responsibility now is to protect that achievement. Continued donor support will allow Development Alert to maintain grassroots preparedness and help ensure that communities closest to the DRC remain informed, vigilant, and ready to respond.

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Aug 18, 2026
Uganda's Ebola Victory and the Growing Emergency A

By Zachery Onyango | Project Leader

Dear supporter,

Uganda's successful containment of Ebola remains a powerful example of what can be achieved when government, health workers, community leaders, grassroots organizations, and communities work together. Uganda recorded 20 confirmed Ebola cases and two deaths during the 2026 outbreak before officially declaring the country Ebola-free on July 28. This achievement followed intensive surveillance, contact tracing, case management, community engagement, infection prevention, and rapid response activities.

However, the situation across the border in the Democratic Republic of Congo has become significantly more serious. As of August 16, the DRC had reported 4,945 confirmed Ebola cases and 2,325 deaths. The outbreak has now become the deadliest Ebola outbreak in the country's history.

For Development Alert, Uganda's success is not a reason to stop. It is a reason to strengthen preparedness. Communities along the Uganda–DRC border continue to have strong social, economic, family, and transportation links with neighboring communities in the DRC. Continued movement makes community surveillance and rapid communication essential.

Our grassroots interventions continue to focus on Ebola prevention education, household awareness, hygiene promotion, early reporting, and strengthening links between communities and health facilities. Community volunteers remain important sources of trusted information, particularly in remote communities where access to formal health services can be difficult.

The field motorcycle purchased to support contact tracing and emergency response continues to provide critical mobility. It enables teams to reach remote villages, follow up alerts, transport educational materials and supplies, and respond quickly when urgent needs arise.

Uganda's success demonstrates that early action works. The crisis in the DRC demonstrates why preparedness must continue. Your support is helping protect Uganda's hard-won achievement while strengthening communities that remain vulnerable to the regional Ebola emergency.

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Aug 18, 2026
Turning Uganda's Ebola Response Experience

By Zachery Onyango | Project Leader

Dear donor,

Uganda's successful response to the 2026 Ebola outbreak has created valuable lessons that can continue protecting communities long after the outbreak has ended. Uganda recorded 20 confirmed cases, two deaths, and successfully completed the required monitoring period before officially declaring the outbreak over on 28 July.

Development Alert is committed to ensuring that the systems strengthened during the emergency remain useful for future public health threats. Community volunteers who participated in awareness activities are continuing to serve as important links between households and local health structures. Local leaders remain engaged, and communities continue receiving information about disease prevention, early reporting, and responsible health-seeking behavior.

This long-term preparedness is especially important because the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo continues to experience a severe Ebola outbreak. WHO reported 4,665 confirmed DRC cases as of 12 August, with 965 patients having recovered and 2,186 deaths reported across the wider outbreak.

The DRC outbreak has spread across multiple provinces and health zones, creating enormous logistical challenges for response teams. WHO reports that the outbreak has now become the largest Ebola outbreak recorded in the DRC.

For Development Alert, this reinforces the importance of community-led preparedness. Our work focuses on strengthening local alert networks, maintaining health education, promoting hygiene, and ensuring that communities know how to communicate concerns to appropriate health authorities.

The field motorcycle acquired during the emergency response continues to support mobility, enabling teams to reach remote communities and respond efficiently when field activities are required.

Uganda's experience proves that preparedness saves lives. Your continued partnership is helping turn that experience into lasting resilience for communities along the Uganda–DRC border.

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