On 6 October, Kenya confirmed its first imported case of Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease (BVD). The patient had fallen ill while living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), travelled by road to Kampala, Uganda on 2 October and then flew to Nairobi the following day. Though the patient was isolated after arriving in Kenya, he died on 5 October.

Kenyan authorities have since begun monitoring contacts and strengthening surveillance, screening and risk communication. Seven additional cases have since been confirmed in Kenya and Nigeria has also confirmed its first case.

For the UK-funded Tackling Deadly Diseases in Africa Programme 2 (TDDAP2), the case illustrates why investment in strengthening data and surveillance systems, coordination, and frontline health worker capacity matter when an outbreak moves across borders.

Turning Preparedness into Response

Kenya was the fourth country to confirm a BVD case and Nigeria the fifth. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security on 18 May 2026. DRC continues to work hard to respond to and contain the outbreak, while Uganda declared an outbreak in May after the importation of cases from DRC. Uganda ended that outbreak in August, though there is still work ongoing to maintain readiness and strengthen point of entry screening. Kenya has confirmed eight cases in total, and the Netherlands has confirmed one imported case.

The overall African Continental Response to the BVD Outbreak is being jointly coordinated by Africa CDC and the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO), helping African Union Member States to prevent, detect, contain, and mitigate the BVD outbreak while minimising morbidity, mortality, socioeconomic disruption, and regional spread.

Because TDDAP2 was already working with the Ugandan government and had previously operated in the DRC, the programme could redirect existing resources towards the response.

“The priority is building country preparedness and readiness for when, not if, the cases come,” says Palladium’s Maya Jaffe.

TDDAP2 repurposed some of its funding to strengthen Uganda’s response across three pillars: strengthening coordination at national and local levels, improving surveillance systems and capacity, and improving community engagement and involvement in tackling the outbreak. The work was aligned to Uganda’s BVD preparedness and response plan and was developed with the Ministry of Health, district response teams and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), with activities initially concentrated in Kampala and Wakiso District.

That translated into people on the ground to support government health workers and help manage the response.TDDAP2 deployed epidemiologists to strengthen coordination and emergency information management in Kampala and Wakiso contributing to more than 100 situation reports and coordination meetings at city, district, and national levels. The programme also developed automated partner-mapping systems and coordination dashboards that improved information sharing, resource allocation, and decision-making, while strengthening systems that will continue to support outbreak preparedness and response beyond the immediate emergency.

Finding Cases Before They Spread

For Jaffe, much of effective outbreak response comes back to one thing.

“Data is everything in a disease outbreak,” she says. “Sharing data and information is critical to having good surveillance systems.”

During Uganda's response, TDDAP2 supported the Ministry of Health to strengthen surveillance systems in Kampala by training 50 contact tracers, supporting active case search and facility-based surveillance across more than 400 health facilities, and strengthening alert management and mortality surveillance. Surveillance teams screened nearly 35,000 patients, reviewed over 10,000 records, identified and verified hundreds of alerts, and mentored more than 2,300 health workers. The programme also strengthened laboratory and mortality surveillance capacity, helping improve early detection and response to Ebola and other public health threats.

The numbers demonstrate something counterintuitive about surveillance: finding more possible cases can be evidence that the system is improving.

“From a surveillance point of view, you want case detection to go up because it means the system is working better,” Jaffe explains. “Because you’re doing a better job of finding the cases.”

She adds that transparency and collaboration are how the global health community will overcome the disease. “The affected African countries should be commended for their speed and transparency in sharing information about new cases.”

When a Patient Crosses Three Countries

The journey of Kenya’s first confirmed patient brings the cross-border challenge into sharp focus. Within days, the patient moved from the DRC through Uganda and into Kenya by air. Kenyan authorities are now following 28 contacts, alongside efforts to trace 23 passengers and four crew members from the flight to Nairobi.

“Diseases don’t respect borders,” says Jaffe. “That only underscores the need to have a regional, cross-border response.”

In Uganda, TDDAP2 participated in the Continental Incident Management Support Team, a joint Africa CDC and WHO Regional Office for Africa initiative designed to strengthen regional coordination, cross-border collaboration and information sharing during the BVD response. TDDAP 2 also plans to support the MoH to implement the Uganda-DRC MoU by deploying technical assistance to generate additional evidence to strengthen cross border response including an anthropologist, psychosocial support and occupational health and safety specialists, and a risk communication and engagement specialist, among others.

That coordination must reach communities too.

TDDAP 2 supported the Ministry of Health to implement risk communication and community engagement activities across Kampala and high-risk border districts, reaching over 3,000 community members and stakeholders through sensitisation sessions, stakeholder engagements, and dissemination of 2,000 IEC (information-education-communication) materials.

The programme also supported the Ministry of Health to engage more than 580 individuals in Kampala and West Nile through social listening and evidence generation activities, generating real-time insights that informed national and district RCCE strategies, messaging, and preparedness interventions.

“Effective communication starts with genuinely listening to communities—their concerns, their priorities and the information they need—and using those insights to shape messaging that resonates with them,” says Jaffe.

Building Systems Before the Next Case Arrives

Kenya’s experience also provides evidence of what preparedness can achieve. The country had been on high alert since outbreaks were declared in Uganda and the DRC in May. By 6 October, Kenya had screened more than 652,000 incoming travellers, tested 267 suspected samples and trained around 5,000 health workers in Ebola prevention and management. WHO reports that the country’s preparedness score increased from 66%in May to 82% in July.

The threats may change, but much of the infrastructure needed to confront them does not: health workers and community members who recognise warning signs, surveillance systems capable of detecting them, information that travels quickly and governments and partners able to act on it.

The movement of one BVD case across three countries is a stark reminder of that reality. An outbreak crossing a border should not be the moment preparedness begins, it should be the moment investments made over months and years bear fruit.