History is about lessons- good, bad and painful. As the current Ebola outbreak unfolds in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and cases are detected in Uganda), lessons from previous Ebola and other disease outbreaks offer important and pragmatic guidance.
The number of suspected Ebola cases is 600, with 139 suspected deaths, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. WHO has declared the current Ebola outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern", but not a pandemic emergency. European officials emphasise that the risk of a European outbreak is low.
The rare Bundibugyo strain has no licensed vaccine or treatment, making it especially dangerous. WHO said it could take up to nine months before a vaccine against this species of Ebola is ready. Care focuses on managing symptoms, dehydration, pain, fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, and blood pressure.
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The virus is microscopic and invisible - but its impacts are not. 50 years since the virus was detected, lived experiences from the outbreak ‘hot zones’ offer insights for the next generation. While some lessons are common, each outbreak is unique in its own way.
I had worked on the frontlines of disease outbreaks. It has been a truly humbling experience watching local health and relief workers and volunteers saving lives and addressing human suffering whilst potentially risking their own.
For example, when Ebola swept through parts of West Africa between 2014 and 2016, it exposed more than a deadly virus. It revealed the fragile fault lines of our world - inequality, fear, misinformation, broken health systems, and the devastating cost of acting too late. Ebola disproportionately affected the world’s poorest communities, reminding us that while crises impact everyone, it is the poorest and most vulnerable who suffer the most.
Yet amid the fear and grief, there were also extraordinary acts of courage. Nurses who stayed. Communities that adapted traditions to save lives. Scientists who worked across borders. Mothers who protected children despite impossible odds. Health and humanitarian workers who walked into fear, while others looked away.
The world faces growing instability, rising food and fuel prices linked to tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, climate shocks, and escalating humanitarian needs. Recent aid cuts have already weakened health systems, cost thousands of healthcare jobs, and reduced mobile clinics and frontline health workers in vulnerable communities - deepening risks and human suffering, just when the world needs it most
Stopping the virus on its tracks through contact tracing and health communication should remain the number one priority. It is also necessary to put a spotlight on the non-medical aspects of the disease outbreak- restricted movements, closed weekly markets (a lifeline for women in many communities), and closed schools all hit hard on the most vulnerable.
1. Acting late costs lives
One of the clearest lessons from Ebola is painfully simple: speed matters.
The battle against Ebola and disease outbreaks is a race against time.
During past Ebola outbreaks, delays in recognising the scale of the crisis allowed the virus to spread rapidly across borders and communities. Experts repeatedly warned that outbreaks become far harder, and far more expensive, to contain once transmission chains are lost.
Public health emergencies do not wait for political consensus, funding approvals, or perfect information. Early detection, rapid response, community outreach, and decisive leadership save lives.
Even after the virus subsides, its impacts linger for years. The cost of hesitation is measured not only in infections, but in orphaned children, overwhelmed hospitals, disrupted education, closed markets and shattered economies.
2. Science saves lives — if people trust it
Public health measures, contact tracing, protective equipment, vaccine, infection prevention, and community-based health measures helped slow the Ebola outbreaks. Scientific cooperation across countries and institutions became one of the strongest tools against fear and chaos.
But science alone is not enough.
During Ebola outbreaks, rumours often spread faster than facts. Some people believed the virus was fake. Others feared treatment centres more than the disease itself. Trust communities have in must trust the people and the media delivering the message is a key factor.
It is also necessary to stop panic, rumours, and misinformation that could spread “faster than the virus.” That lesson feels even more urgent today in an era of viral misinformation, manipulated narratives, and fake news amplified online within seconds.
Public trust is not built during emergencies. It is built long before crises begin - through transparency, honesty, listening, and consistent engagement with communities. The role of trusted media and communication channels is key.
3. Vulnerable communities suffer first and longest
Ebola did not affect everyone equally. Poor communities with weak healthcare access suffered the most. Children lost parents. Girls faced heightened protection risks. Pregnant women struggled to access maternal healthcare. Families already living in poverty became even more vulnerable.
Today, millions of families are already struggling with rising food and fuel prices linked to global instability and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz. For vulnerable households, every increase in transport or food costs means impossible choices - eating less, pulling children out of school, delaying healthcare, or entering debt.
All suffering is not visible. The emotional fallout of the outbreak is often ignored.
In every crisis, children, girls, and pregnant women are often hit hardest first and recover last. When war, displacement, and poverty collide, children suffer first - especially girls.
When food prices rise, girls eat last. When families struggle, girls are often the first pulled out of school — and too often the last allowed to return. Humanitarian responses cannot treat them as an afterthought. They must be prioritised from the start.
4. Strong public health systems are an ‘insurance’ for all
Ebola and the COVID-19 pandemic exposed what happens when healthcare systems are weak. Hospitals lacked equipment. Health workers lacked protection. Laboratories were limited. Surveillance systems struggled. In some places, even basic healthcare collapsed under pressure.
Deadly pathogens exploit weak systems. Public health investment is not charity. It is preparedness. It is resilience.
The world often spends billions responding to crises that could have been reduced through earlier investments in frontline healthcare workers, local clinics, disease surveillance, clean water, maternal health services, and emergency preparedness.
A resilient health system that protects everyone is achieved by working every single day before and after, and not only during outbreaks.
5. Collaboration matters more than competition
No government can face a major outbreak alone. During Ebola responses, progress happened when governments, local communities, local agencies, humanitarian organisations, researchers, private companies, faith leaders, media and international agencies worked together.
Viruses do not respect borders, politics, or ideology. Global crises require collective action and shared responsibility. Fragmented responses create dangerous gaps where disease, fear, and instability thrive.
At a time when international cooperation is under strain globally, Ebola reminds us that solidarity is not optional. It is survival.
6. Compassion matters
One of the quietest tragedies during major outbreaks and disasters is what happens to people considered ‘beyond saving.’
When healthcare systems are overwhelmed, terminally ill patients and those needing palliative care and end-of-life care are often deprioritised. Decisions become brutally utilitarian: who can survive, who receives treatment, who is “worth” the resources.
But dignity should never depend on survival odds. Even when a cure is impossible, care remains essential.
No human being should spend their final days isolated, abandoned, or treated as disposable because they are “going to die anyway.” Compassion is not a luxury in emergencies. It is part of humanity’s moral infrastructure.
The measure of a society is not only how it saves lives, but how it cares for those at their most vulnerable.
7. Children, especially girls, must remain at the centre
Ebola outbreaks left deep scars on children. Many lost parents, missed school, faced stigma, or experienced severe psychological trauma. Girls faced abuses, amplified by the dynamics and the faultlines created by outbreaks.
Crises shape childhoods in ways that last decades. When schools close, food prices rise, healthcare systems weaken, and families lose livelihoods, children absorb the consequences long after headlines disappear.
Every emergency response should therefore ask one central question: What does this mean for children, especially girls and young people?
Not only for their survival, but for their safety, education, mental health, dignity, and future. Because when girls are protected, communities recover faster. When children and young people are forgotten, crises echo across generations.
Ebola taught the world hard lessons written in grief and courage. It is necessary not to repeat the same mistakes —delay, division, disinformation, and neglect. We must choose urgency, science, compassion, solidarity, and protection for the most vulnerable.
A crisis always gives humanity choices. And the choices we make are what stop an outbreak from becoming a humanitarian crisis.
The author is the global humanitarian director of Plan International.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK.