Ebola: Health Workers Battle Virus and Stigma

Health workers tend to an Ebola patient at the Rwampara Treatment Center in Ituri, Congo, Thursday, June 18, 2026

Ebola virus

On the front lines of the Ebola outbreak, healthcare workers are exposed not only to Ebola in health centers but also to rejection by their communities.

Since Ebola broke out in her community, Dr. Jemima Mugisa, 40, has been working at the Ebola treatment center, which is run by the government and the the humanitarian organization Alliance for International Medical Action (ALIMA).

At the beginning of the outbreak in May, it wasn't easy for her. Her children were afraid of her when she returned from the hospital.

“When they (the children) heard how many people were dying from this epidemic, they were afraid of me, and I myself was afraid to go back to my family (for fear of infecting them), but for now, everything is going well," Mugisa said.

There is no official tally of healthcare workers who have contracted or died from Ebola, but at the beginning of the outbreak, several healthcare workers got infected; four of them recovered, and at least one died.

The Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda has claimed more than 200 lives in its first month and is the worst known outbreak at this stage, with up to 35,000 suspected potential contacts, Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said on Thursday.

With 894 confirmed cases so far, the current outbreak is three times worse than the previous outbreak in Uganda in 2000, which had 281 active cases.