Webinar title: Beyond Countermeasures: A Global Health and Peace Approach to the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak in North-Eastern DRC
This session reframes the 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak in north-eastern DRC and Uganda as a crisis that cannot be resolved by biomedical countermeasures alone. Drawing on frontline experience in Ebola response, health diplomacy, and humanitarian negotiation, it examines how armed conflict, mass displacement, and porous borders drive transmission and constrain the response — and makes the evidence-based case for operationalising WHO’s Global Health and Peace Initiative (GHPI) alongside accelerated financing and research and development. Participants will leave with a practical framework for going beyond the traditional public-health playbook in fragile, conflict-affected settings.
Speaker: Mr. Kevin Ousman, RN, Global Health Expert & Humanitarian Diplomacy and Negotiations — Harvard Global Public Health Executive Scholar
Kevin Ousman is a global public health emergency expert who spent over 11 years in WHO at the country, regional, and HQ levels. Kevin led IPC measures for WHO during the 2018-2019 Ebola outbreak in N.E. DRC. He is currently Managing Partner at Pristine Connect Consulting, where he leads Health & Humanitarian Affairs through evidence-based advocacy, policy development, and strategic engagements. His work spans outbreak response, Infection Prevention and Control, humanitarian access and negotiations, conflict-sensitive operations, and community engagement. He works with member states, international finance institutions, and multilateral partners — including WHO, Africa CDC, and the World Bank — to strengthen health emergency preparedness and response in the Africa region.
Objectives:
- Describe the epidemiology and distinguishing features of the 2026 Bundibugyo virus disease outbreak, including the absence of any licensed vaccine or therapeutic.
- Analyse how armed conflict, population displacement, and porous borders shape transmission and constrain the response in north-eastern DRC and the wider region.
- Explain the WHO Global Health and Peace Initiative (GHPI) and its relevance to outbreak control in fragile and conflict-affected settings.
- Identify four operational pillars for applying a health-and-peace approach, including humanitarian negotiation and cross-border health diplomacy.
- Evaluate the financing and diplomatic actions required to close the current response gap.
Date: Thursday, 11th of June 2026
Time: 6 PM GMT
Duration: 60 minutes