BWINDI — Conservation Through Public Health donated 25 non-contact infrared thermometers, 450 sets of rain gear, and more than 30 smartphones to the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA). The donation followed the detection of an Ebola outbreak in Uganda on May 15, 2025.

James Musinguzi, UWA executive director, said, "These are very, very critical equipment at this time because we are going to use them for surveillance of our animal health and visitors' health." He added, "We shall use the thermometer to take the temperatures, we shall of course, use the rain gear to make sure that the rangers, the guides and everybody who is working in the tropical forest of Bwindi are protected from rain and of course the phones are going to be used to capture data."

Veterinary doctor and gorilla conservationist Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka addressed concerns about disease transmission. "We are in a very critical time of Ebola. It is one of the diseases we are concerned about that can spread between people and wildlife," Kalema-Zikusoka said. Uganda's mountain gorilla population has never had Ebola. However, more than 5,000 western lowland gorillas in Gabon and the Republic of Congo have died of Ebola in the past 30 years.

Kalema-Zikusoka also spoke about the economic impact of tourism on conservation efforts. "We need these people to come to pay money, which will stop people entering the forest to poach because during the pandemic, when tourism disappeared for 6 months, poaching really went up and that is when we lost Rafiki, a friendly silverback gorilla of the Nkuringo group. We don't want to have any more losses during this outbreak." Mountain gorillas share more than 98% of their DNA with humans.

The Africa CDC reported that the current Ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda was the worst in history during its first month, with up to 35,000 suspected potential contacts. The outbreak has resulted in 894 confirmed Ebola cases and 204 deaths. The current outbreak is three times worse than the 2000 Uganda outbreak at the same point, according to the Africa CDC.