By Syriacus Buguzi, Busia
BEFORE May 15 this year, communities in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) lived their normal lives, unaware that a lethal virus was brewing. Amid growing claims that the disease had already been quietly spreading through villages unnoticed for several weeks before it was officially declared, its early symptoms mirrored endemic diseases like malaria.
This allowed the highly lethal Bundibugyo strain of Ebola to circulate undetected, marking a devastating re-emergence 14 years after its last outbreak in the country between June and November 2012.
To prevent the latest outbreak from a catastrophic spillover, regional health experts from the East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) who teamed up with ministries of health from Burundi and Tanzania, have come up with a strict 10-point preparedness actions designed to establish a buffer zone across highly connected border checkpoints of Kabanga-kobero.
One might wonder: why focus heavily on the border between Tanzania and Burundi when the active Ebola outbreaks are in the DRC and Uganda? But that is precisely what health emergency preparedness is all about. These regional borders are deeply interconnected; a traveler from an outbreak zone might easily find their way into Tanzania via Burundi rather than taking the more direct routes through Uganda or Rwanda.
Since May 17, when the Ebola outbreak in DRC was declared by the World Health Organisation as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC ), the experts from ECSA HC and ministries of health have also been in a preparedness operation at other border points: the Tanzania-Uganda border and are currently camping at the Uganda-Kenya of Busia.
For Dr. Benedict Mushi, a cross-border disease surveillance expert with ECSA-HC, the hidden nature of this virus is what makes it so dangerous. “Because it is a rare strain and wasn’t detected early, tackling it is deeply challenging,” Mushi says. “This is compounded by the fact that the Bundibugyo strain has no vaccine yet, there is no specific treatment for Ebola Bundibudyo, patients are treated based on symptoms they have .”
Mushi believes a wider regional crisis can be averted if containment holds at sources , from where the outbreak recently spilled over. By enhancing health screening, equipping frontline teams, and scaling up regional surveillance through the 10-point actions, the virus can be stopped. To execute this, ECSA-HC epidemiologists and health emergency preparedness specialists have been deployed to key border points, currently working with Kenyan and Ugandan teams in Busia to revitalize Public Health Emergency Preparedness
The Bundibugyo virus represents a distinct genetic lineage within the filovirus family. First discovered in 2007 in Western Uganda’s Bundibugyo District, it carries a devastating case fatality rate of 30% to 50%. The danger is no longer theoretical. The outbreak has expanded from Ituri Province into North and South Kivu, recording 105 confirmed cases, 906 suspected cases, and 223 deaths in the DRC, according to WHO. The contagion has also breached Uganda, killing at least one person amid a cluster of confirmed cases that includes healthcare workers. As of late May 2026, Uganda has reported 9 confirmed cases and 1 death from the Bundibugyo Ebola virus outbreak as per WHO Disease Outbreak News (DON) – Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus.
Health agencies warn that detection delays in remote gold mining areas have fueled extensive community transmission now moving along major commercial routes.
Led by ECSA-HC, health ministries of Burundi and Tanzania, along with other on-health agencies with physical presence at those border ( immigration, revenue authority, security, veterinary services, and others) recently converged at Kabanga-Ngara border alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) for joint commitment supported by cross-Border Simulation Exercise. This operation directly operationalized the 10-point defense framework by live-testing border containment systems under emergency situations.
“We imagined a scenario where a suspected Ebola traveler arrives at the border. What happens next? How capable are our systems?” says Dr. Remidius Kakulu, a Principal Epidemiologist and manager for Port Health Services for Tanzania’s Ministry of Health. Working alongside Dr. Dieudonne Sengiyumva of Burundi’s National Rapid Response Team, Kakulu notes the ECSA-HC-led simulation live-tested how quickly border teams can isolate the pathogen before it sparks a cross-border crisis.
Dr. Mushi briefed journalists at the frontline, emphasizing that because constant movement is vital for regional trade and family ties, countries cannot simply close their gates, but must make these entry points impenetrable to pathogen transit.
“No country can manage public health threats in isolation,” Mushi stated. “Points of entry are our frontlines. By harmonizing digital reporting tools and cross-border contact tracing pathways, we ensure that if a virus knocks, it finds a connected system waiting for it.”
A joint inspection of the border posts exposed a sharp contrast in structural readiness and highlighted exactly why the new mandates are being deployed. At Burundi’s Kobero facility, inspectors found a well-organized, unidirectional screening layout operating as a prerequisite before immigration. Backed by multilingual awareness broadcasts in Swahili, Kirundi, and French, it features gender-segregated isolation units and donning/doffing rooms for handling personal protective equipment (PPE).
To secure this specific frontline against the latest outbreak, emergency response teams are moving swiftly to implement (1) the immediate deployment of mass walkthrough thermo-scanners at high-volume bottlenecks, backed by a directive for (2) the continuous replenishment of PPE and infection control supplies within all isolation zones. Furthermore, engineers are executing (3) urgent technical infrastructure upgrades to ventilation systems and electrical grids to support essential clinical climate controls.
To eliminate transit contamination risks, authorities have ordered (4) the physical redesign of exit pathways to bypass incoming travelers and allow direct ambulance access. On the data front, teams are implementing (5) the mandatory digitalization of paper clearance forms, optimized to capture complete international phone numbers and country codes required for contact tracing, while field teams execute (6) the immediate conversion of handwashing stations from bar soap to liquid soap to eliminate surface cross-contamination.
Across the border at Tanzania’s Kabanga facility, inspectors found highly developed, modern infrastructure and advanced walkthrough thermo-scanners. The Afya-Msafiri digital information system is fully active to support real-time reporting. Despite these infrastructure advantages, Kabanga is undergoing rapid retrofitting to comply with the rest of the strategy. This includes (7) the permanent positioning of dedicated standby ambulances and stationary mobile laboratories directly at the points of entry to cut down response times. To streamline patient safety, contractors are establishing (8) an uninterrupted unidirectional flow from screening checkpoints to isolated zones, complete with dedicated, separate latrines to avoid cross-infection.
On a broader administrative scale, the framework secures the regional corridor through (9) the enforcement of a synchronized, dual-exit screening mechanism that cross-verifies transiting populations simultaneously between neighboring countries. Finally, realizing that pathogens do not respect official lines on a map, the strategy mandates (10) the aggressive expansion of public health intelligence into unconventional, informal transit corridors to shut down security vulnerabilities along porous borders.
Officially opening the proceedings, Dr. Otilia Gowelle, the Director of Preventive Services at the Ministry of Health Tanzania, outlined how this strategy ties into an aggressive domestic response that activates the country’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre and deploys Rapid Response Teams to 11 high-risk regions.
By training community health workers, local leaders, and security networks along border villages, the ministry is transforming unconventional crossing pathways into an alert network. “We are expanding our defensive ring outward and incorporating the community itself as an early warning sensor,” Dr. Gowelle stated. “If someone crosses through an unofficial point showing symptoms, the community will serve as our eyes and ears to ensure immediate, safe isolation and reporting.”
Speaking on behalf of the Burundian delegation, Jean-Claude Nduwimana, a Senior Public Health Officer representing the Ministry of Public Health and AIDS Control of Burundi, highlighted that the Kobero border post is a vital socioeconomic artery requiring maximum protection. Through the 10-point intervention, Burundi is upgrading its infrastructure and integrating law enforcement to guarantee adherence to health protocols.
“Public health protocols only work if there is total compliance,” Nduwimana underscored. “Having police backup at Port Health ensures that frontline medical screeners can do their jobs safely without facing non-compliant pushback from transiting populations.”
