Immediately after the declaration of an Ebola outbreak in Uganda, which followed the detection of an infected person in the centre of the country, the Ministry of Health asked Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to support its efforts in the fight against the spread of the disease.

On Wednesday 21 September, an MSF team of six people, consisting mainly of doctors and logisticians, travelled to the town of Mubende in central Uganda, to carry out an assessment of the situation and needs at the regional referral hospital where the first case was detected.

Since then, MSF has started setting up an Ebola isolation and treatment centre in the Mubende hospital. We are also exploring the possibility of setting up a second centre in the town of Madudu, around 25 kilometres north of Mubende, where the first person who died during this outbreak originated, and where several suspected cases have been reported.

The priority today is to improve patient care in the current structure. We are gathering a team of medical people, epidemiologists and logisticians with experience in responding to haemorrhagic fever, that should be ready beginning of next week. We remain available for the Ministry of Health to respond further where needs are identified.

The last Ebola outbreak in Uganda occurred in 2019. MSF responded in the country to support the Ugandan health authorities in the care of people who had been in contact with these confirmed cases, the establishment of an Ebola treatment unit, and assistance in improving infection prevention and control measures.