Uganda: Uganda Finally Gets Ebola Clearance From WHO

Uganda has officially been declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The country completed a 42-day monitoring period with no new confirmed cases of the Bundibugyo virus outbreak, which began in May 2026 and was linked to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, praised Uganda's response, while Dr Mohamed Janabi, WHO Regional Director for Africa, described the end of the outbreak as an important milestone. Dr Jean Kaseya, Africa CDC Director-General, hailed Uganda's achievement as an important lesson for the continent. International certification follows its own rules, but Uganda met the internationally established benchmark of a 42-day countdown, which is twice the upper limit of Ebola's incubation period.

Ugandan health authorities credited their success to a high degree of epidemiological certainty, advanced diagnostics, genomic sequencing, digital surveillance, real-time contact tracing, and a robust public health system. Dr Kaseya emphasized that Uganda's success depended on community trust, effective public health messaging, and people's cooperation in reporting illness and participating in contact tracing.