On The Other Side of Ebola

The first text arrived in my inbox on 20 September 2022. A young male patient in hospital near one of my, Medical Teams International field offices was Ebola positive, he died a couple of days later.

I lead a non-government organisation with a focus on humanitarian health, but I am not a health professional. My knowledge of Ebola came from being on the fringes of previous outbreaks in other countries and reading about the virus. I knew that, for Uganda this was the ninth time the country was dealing with the virus. I knew we didn’t (and still don’t) know how the first patient was infected. I knew it was one of the deadliest, most highly contagious diseases around. I knew that the area where it was now identified was very close to a densely populated refugee settlement and that my team, were responsible for supporting the government in the management and provision of primary health care. I knew that the health sector had learned a lot about how to contain, manage and fight this virus – but much of that containment and fight was completely dependent on people taking appropriate precautions, changing behaviours and cultural mores so that the virus could not spread from person to person.

Health actors quickly reacted to the news. The government took appropriate actions, emergency health specialists arrived to support the response. Within days parts of the district looked like something out of a movie – but this was real – and within days the reality spread beyond the original district. New cases were identified in cities (including Kampala) and hospitals hundreds of kilometers away.

Medical Teams International was involved from day one. Very quickly our staff with any contact with suspected patients were wearing full protection gear. We had staff screening all incoming hospital visitors and patients for the virus. Laboratory technicians taking blood samples, preparing, and sending them away for testing. Doctors treating suspected cases and preparing them for nurses and ambulance drivers to transport to a nearby government hospital where the Ebola Treatment Unit was established. We trained over 1,000 volunteers to move into the community to tell people about the realities of Ebola, how to identify it, how to stay safe, and how to behave if you suspected it in yourself or others. Our specialist staff, previously trained to support safe and dignified burials were prepared.

Behind the scenes our support teams were working hard to ensure that we had and were purchasing enough protective gear. We worked with funding partners (including European Commission - ECHO , Bureau of Population Refugees and Migration ( 美国国务院 ) and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency , Embassy of Ireland, Uganda) to acquire and implement additional funds We were working with the Ministry of Health to make sure everything we did was in alignment and providing support to the government response, including making sure that our staff were receiving risk allowances.

In the first days of the outbreak, people — including Medical Teams staff — were scared. But even as they expressed those fears, they put on their coveralls, masks, and boots and they did their jobs.

The outbreak lasted 116 days and during that time our health teams screened 146,803 people at country entry points and health facilities.

During the response 4,793 suspected contacts were followed up by all actors involved, but of those there was only 142 confirmed cases. 87 of these recovered. But the virus claimed 55 lives, and 7 of these were health workers that gave their lives in their service of others (none of these were Medical Teams staff).

When on January 11, after 42 days of no new contacts or cases, the Minister of Health announced that Uganda had defeated the outbreak there was a national sigh of relief. Since then, Medical Teams, with the government and health and funding partners have met to evaluate and learn from the response. No one believes that this is the last health emergency that Uganda will face – but for now, we are taking a breath.

I am very proud of my team and the role they played in the management and containment of the virus. It is their job, but their service goes beyond the expectations of contract. In the face of some really frightening personal risks, reduced funding and decreasing international commitment to Uganda, they have and I know will continue to make themselves available to meet and provide health care to vulnerable refugees and Ugandans.