The writer is the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

When your country is under threat, you must be on the front lines.

The Ebola Bundibugyo outbreak affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is unfolding in a region under intense pressure. Borders are porous. Population movement is constant. Health systems are stretched. For this strain of the virus, there is currently no licensed vaccine or specific treatment.

That reality must be faced honestly. I have just returned from Kinshasa, Bunia and Kampala. I saw exhausted health workers, working without pause. Families burying loved ones under emergency conditions, in areas marked by insecurity and fragile health systems.

I also saw something the world still fails to recognise clearly enough: an African response taking shape rapidly, under African leadership, with African professionals on the front line.

At the age of 28, I ran a general hospital in Kahemba, a small Congolese town. The nearest specialist was hundreds of kilometres away. We treated patients with what we had. We counted vials. We improvised when promised support arrived late.

That experience continues to shape my conviction. Since taking office at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in 2023, I have argued consistently that Africa’s health security must be built first on African soil, with African capacities for the long term financed by African governments, their partners and the private sector.

For decades, the continent has confronted dangerous health crises while remaining dependent on financing systems, production capacity and access mechanisms controlled elsewhere. Covid-19 exposed the political and human cost of that dependence. African countries waited for vaccines produced elsewhere, financed elsewhere and prioritised elsewhere. The result was devastating.

Today, African countries are investing more heavily in disease surveillance, laboratory systems, manufacturing capacity and regional co-ordination. This shift reflects collective security priorities.

But with Ebola, the risk of regional spread is already happening. As of May 30, the DR Congo and Uganda had reported 263 confirmed cases, with 43 confirmed deaths — with more than 1,100 suspected cases still being investigated (the vast majority of cases and deaths have been in DR Congo). We must move at the speed of the epidemic.

National incident management systems must be activated rapidly. Investments in pandemic preparedness must become permanent. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa, the African Union Champion on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response, has shown important leadership. The health ministers of the DR Congo, Uganda and South Sudan recently adopted a $319mn response plan under regional co-ordination. That momentum must now expand across the continent.

On the ground, the first line of defence remains the women and men running treatment centres, surveillance systems and community networks. They must be protected and equipped.

African business leaders must recognise that the continent’s health security is also an economic issue. Epidemics weaken supply chains, trade, investment and regional stability. Pandemic preparedness has become a strategic interest for the African private sector.

International partners still play an essential role. But their support matters most when it aligns with strategies built alongside African institutions and governments. Africa needs support that is rapid, co-ordinated and predictable. Health crises require mechanisms that can reach communities without delay.

Ebola is a serious test for Africa CDC and for the African Union. Our responsibility is clear: co-ordinate member states, accelerate decisions and strengthen the continent’s capacity to protect populations before crises become unmanageable. This outbreak will not be the last.