By Cecilia Ologunagba
The United Nations (UN) says it has trained nearly 200 community health officers on infection and prevention and control, early detection, and risk communication in Rwanda on Ebola preparedness.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric gave the update on Wednesday while briefing journalists at the UN headquarters in New York.
Dujarric said the UN, with its humanitarian partners, has continued to support the government-led efforts to prepare for a potential Ebola outbreak in Rwanda, which has not happened.
Last week, the UN also assessed border crossings and health facilities to review screening detection capacities as well as staff preparedness.
The UN is also supporting infection prevention and hygiene measures at the Rugerero Ebola Training Center in the western province, and has also trained Red Cross volunteers and ambulance drivers on transport procedures.
Rwanda has no confirmed Ebola cases but remains at high risk, given its proximity to the highest impacted areas in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Similarly, Kenya has strengthened Ebola readiness at its busiest land border
“We knew Ebola was in Congo and Uganda, not much more than that,” Dekens Okoth Ojera, member of the Busia Cross Border Women Traders Sacco, which has 257 registered members, said.
“We were not equipped or aware of how to handle it if it reached us, or sure that anything was being done.”
Kenya has recorded no cases of the Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus.
Still, transmission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has not stopped, while thousands of people cross Kenya’s western border every day.
Uganda’s outbreak was declared over on August 26, 2026, but movement of people and goods across the region continues.
Busia sits on the Northern Corridor, the trade route running from Mombasa through Uganda to Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
More than 3,000 people cross here daily, alongside freight moving to and from the region. That constant movement makes border workers and communities an important part of Kenya’s early warning system.
In August, the Kenya National Public Health Institute, with support from WHO and the International Organisation for Migration, trained 35 health workers and engaged 45 border stakeholders from three priority points of entry.
The three priority points of entry are the Busia and Malaba One-Stop Border Posts in Busia County, and Lwakhakha in Bungoma County.
“The people who work at this border see travellers long before we do. When a trader notices someone who is unwell and knows exactly who to call, that is early detection.
“It has to work in the other direction too. When communities have questions or fears, we need to hear them quickly,” Oliver Atsing’a, a port health officer at Kenya National Public Health Institute, said. (NAN)