Stories & News

Ten years ago, on 23 March 2014, Guinea declared an outbreak of Ebola. Ebola outbreaks were known to be dangerous but small. But not this time: it would take two years, and more than eleven thousand deaths, before the epidemic was over. 

Dr Michel Van Herp, a renowned Ebola expert even before 2014, looks back at the largest ever Ebola outbreak, and answers five key questions.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) started an Ebola emergency mission in Uganda, after the outbreak has been declared on September 20th.

The teams are involved in supporting the Ministry of Health (MOH) in case management and are doing health promotion, a major pillar in fighting the disease. Outreach activities take place in Mubende and Kasanda, where the first cases were identified in September, and have now started in Kampala and Masaka.

The Ebola outbreak in Uganda was declared on 20th September. According to the Ministry of Health, as of 7th November: 136 cases have been confirmed, 53 deaths were confirmed from Ebola and 61 people recovered. 

Since the outbreak began, cases have been detected in a total of eight of Uganda’s 111 districts, including in the capital city. The government confirmed five cases on October 23rd in Kampala, a packed urban centre. 

Since September 20, 2022, the day the Ebola epidemic was declared in Uganda, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been working alongside the Ministry of Health to support medical care in the country.

Since the declaration of the Ebola outbreak in Uganda on 20 September (and as of 2 October 2022), the Ugandan Ministry of Health has confirmed 43 cases of Ebola and reported 29 deaths (nine confirmed deaths from the disease and 20 probable). MSF is working with the Ministry of Health to set up an initial emergency response to help stop the disease from spreading further. 

While the COVID-19 pandemic dominated headlines in 2020, there was no end to other diseases, emergencies and crises affecting people globally.  
  
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) continued to work alongside health authorities and communities in more than 70 countries. 
  
From assisting Syrians displaced by conflict to continuing essential sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls, these are ten of our biggest responses outside of COVID-19 in 2020.