Uganda: WHO Defends Uganda's Early Declaration of End to Ebola Outbreak

What the report says

The World Health Organisation has defended Uganda’s decision to announce the end of its Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak before the usual 42-day waiting period had passed, saying the country’s response should be judged by whether it stopped transmission and protected public health. The comments were reported by The Independent in Kampala and published by AllAfrica on 5 August 2026.

According to the report, Uganda discharged its last confirmed Ebola patient from the National Isolation and Treatment Centre in Mulago on 16 July and declared the outbreak over on 28 July. That timing prompted questions from some observers, who said the government did not wait through the standard post-case period used in many outbreak declarations. WHO’s regional director for Africa, Mohamed Yakub Janabi, said Uganda had remained focused on containing the disease rather than on procedure alone.

Janabi was in Uganda with a delegation from Africa CDC, led by director-general Jean Kaseya. The article says both organizations praised Uganda’s response as a model for the region, while also noting that Uganda remained involved in efforts in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was still active. By Monday, Congo had reported 3,605 cases and 1,587 deaths, while Uganda had recorded 20 confirmed cases, most of them imported from Congo.

The report also notes lingering debate over Uganda’s outbreak communications and references criticism of U.S. travel restrictions on Uganda, which Africa CDC called unnecessary. In broader context, Ebola declarations often follow public-health monitoring periods intended to detect any final cases, but health officials sometimes emphasize local epidemiology and response effectiveness when explaining exceptional timing.