Kenya has stepped up cross-border health surveillance following a joint warning from six foreign governments—including the United States and the United Kingdom—over the acute threat of an Ebola outbreak in neighboring South Sudan.
In a joint statement issued on Thursday, November 12, 2026, the embassies of Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States expressed grave concern over potential spillover into South Sudan. Although Juba has not yet confirmed a case of the Bundibugyo Ebola virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates a 99 percent risk of virus importation due to active transmission across its 813-kilometer border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where confirmed cases surpassed 10,900 as of November 9.
“These risks give even greater urgency to the need for South Sudan’s leaders to start using South Sudan’s public revenue to fund the health sector, including the salaries of public health workers. It also gives greater urgency to our calls for South Sudan’s leaders to support full access throughout the country for organisations providing assistance to South Sudanese people in need,” the embassies stated.
Health authorities in South Sudan have been actively investigating suspected viral alerts, including a fatal haemorrhagic fever case in Morobo County—which twice tested negative for Ebola before being confirmed as yellow fever on November 10, 2026—alongside another pending…
