Ebola Outbreak in Uganda | Preventive protocols implemented at Entebbe Children’s Surgical hospital

Several confirmed and hundreds of suspected cases of Ebola have been detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda. The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak "a public health emergency of international concern."

EMERGENCY - which in Uganda operates the Children's Surgical Hospital in Entebbe, 40 km from Kampala - has begun implementing a specific protocol to ensure maximum protection for patients, hospital staff, and all personnel and visitors entering the facility.

The country had already had to manage cases linked to an Ebola virus outbreak in 2019 and 2022.

"We have activated the safety protocol established by the World Health Organization, which includes temperature screening at the facility's entrance and a questionnaire regarding patients' places of origin," states Giacomo Menaldo, EMERGENCY's Uganda Country Director. "The virus is currently present mainly in the western parts of the country, and people arriving from those areas require more thorough checks. Our goal is to continue ensuring safe care for our patients."

EMERGENCY was on the ground in Sierra Leone during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The organisation built and ran two Ebola Treatment Centres, including one equipped with a ventilated ICU for infected patients: the first of its kind in West Africa. Although the epidemic caused the closure of most hospitals in the country, EMERGENCY continued to provide free medical, surgical and paediatric care at its Goderich Surgical Centre, remaining one of the very few active healthcare facilities thanks to the implementation of strict triage protocols to prevent internal transmission.