Uganda has been officially declared free of Ebola, following the end of an outbreak that began earlier this year.
The announcement was made on Saturday during a ceremony in Mbale city, attended by officials from the World Health Organization and UNICEF.
Health Minister Dr Jane Ruth Aceng confirmed that the last known patient had been discharged from hospital on 14 March 2025, triggering a 42-day countdown with no new cases reported — the standard period required to declare an outbreak over.
The outbreak, caused by the Sudan strain of the Ebolavirus, was Uganda’s eighth. It infected 14 people across seven districts and three cities. Four people died — two confirmed through laboratory tests and two classified as probable deaths.
Dr Aceng stressed the importance of seeking immediate medical care for any unexplained illness, warning that movement between districts by infected individuals had played a significant role in the spread of the disease.
The first confirmed case, a 32-year-old nurse, travelled across several districts, including Mbale — where he visited a traditional healer — as well as Kampala, Mukono, and Wakiso, before being diagnosed.
The outbreak’s second confirmed death involved a child who had been treated at multiple health facilities in Kampala, including Mulago National Referral Hospital, without being tested for Ebola. Tragically, the child had earlier lost a mother and sibling to the virus, who were contacts of confirmed cases in Fort Portal city, Kyegegwa and Ntoroko districts.
Uganda has a long history of battling Ebola outbreaks, and health officials said lessons from this experience would strengthen future surveillance and response efforts.
