Ebola virus disease outbreak response September-December, 2022

On 20th September 2022, the Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus (SVD) after a case managed at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital (MRRH) in Mubende District was confirmed through testing at the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI). This is the first time in more than a decade that Uganda reported an outbreak of Sudan ebolavirus.

The largest Ebola outbreak in Uganda occurred in 2000–2001 with 425 cases and 224 deaths (Sudan strain). This Ebola outbreak is the second largest in Uganda with 142 total confirmed cumulative cases and 55 cumulative deaths from 10 districts.

The PHFP team and alumni were among the first teams to respond to this Ebola outbreak, primarily under the surveillance pillar. The PHFP team and the alumni were assigned head of case investigation, active case search, contact listing, tracing and follow up, developing epidemiological links, updating daily situation reports in all the nine districts and at the national level.

The PHFP team diligently performed these roles throughout the response, from September to December 2022 Thank you to the entire PHFP family (mentors, supervisors, administrators, current fellows, and alumni) for swinging into action to put an end to the Ebola outbreak.

On the 11^th, January 2023, Uganda was declared Ebola-free. We thank all the responders for the great work done to achieve this victory.