'It's our duty': The health frontliners training to tackle Ebola

June 22, 2026 - 07:06

Joseph Emuron watches closely as his colleagues from several East African countries slowly leave the "red zone" during their pandemic preparedness training in a teaching hospital in Nairobi. It was on the third day of the simulation that the gravity of the work truly set in for him. Dressed in a full personal protective equipment suit, he moved through a mock isolation ward, practicing the careful removal of contaminated gloves and the safe disposal of medical waste. Every step was deliberate. Every motion was rehearsed.

Emuron, a nurse from Uganda, is part of a growing network of health frontliners undergoing rigorous drills to handle potential Ebola outbreaks. The training, organized by regional health authorities, focuses on the real-world challenges that often trip up even experienced staff: donning and doffing gear without self-contamination, managing distressed patients, and coordinating with local surveillance teams. "It's our duty," Emuron said after the session, his face still marked by the pressure of the exercise. "We cannot afford to hesitate. One mistake in the red zone can cost lives."

The drills come amid heightened vigilance across East Africa, where cross-border travel and porous borders make disease containment difficult. Participants from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and South Sudan practice everything from triage to safe burials. For many, the work is personal. They remember the 2014 West Africa outbreak and the more recent flare-ups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "We are not just learning protocols," said Dr. Amina Hassan, a lead trainer. "We are building a culture of readiness. The moment we let our guard down is the moment the virus finds a way in."

The training also emphasizes communication with communities that may be skeptical of health interventions. Trainees role-play conversations with family members who refuse to quarantine or who hide symptoms. It is slow, frustrating work, but the frontliners say it is necessary. As Emuron packed his gear at the end of the day, he summed up the sentiment shared by many: "If we do our job right, no one will ever know how close we came to disaster."