Diana Atwine

Diana Atwine is the Permanent Secretary of Uganda's Ministry of Health, the senior career official responsible for the day-to-day administration of Uganda's national health system and emergency health response. The Permanent Secretary role is the permanent administrative head of the Ministry, distinct from the politically appointed Minister; Atwine provides continuity across political cycles and leads the operational response to health emergencies.

Atwine has overseen Uganda's response to multiple Filovirus events during her tenure, including the 2019 Sudan ebolavirus spillover and, most significantly, the 2022 Sudan ebolavirus outbreak in which Uganda confirmed 142 cases and 55 deaths over 113 days. That outbreak was controlled through contact tracing alone, without any licensed vaccine (Ervebo does not cover Sudan ebolavirus). The 2022 response is widely regarded by the Filovirus community as one of the most effective modern Ebola containments achieved without a vaccine, and Atwine's leadership of the Ministry during that response established her credibility as a key regional voice on Filovirus preparedness.

Her approach is characterised by directness in public communications and a disciplined focus on contact identification. In the 2022 response she maintained regular public briefings that were credited with reducing rumour and maintaining community cooperation.

Diana Atwine confirmed Uganda's first Bundibugyo Ebola case on Thursday 14 May 2026, stating: "This is an imported case from DRC. The country has not yet confirmed a local case." The case was a 59-year-old Congolese man admitted to Kibuli Muslim Hospital in Kampala on Monday 11 May, who died on Thursday 14 May after a three-day clinical course. His body was transported back to DRC the same evening, creating an additional exposure-mapping challenge.

Atwine immediately activated Uganda's Filovirus response protocols: one high-risk contact was isolated, all contacts placed under quarantine, a mobile laboratory was deployed to Bwera Hospital in Kasese district on the DRC border, and border screening was activated at western entry points and along transit routes between Kasese and Kampala. As of 17 May, at least 25 contacts are under monitoring across Kampala and the Kasese border area. A second confirmed case in Kampala (per the WHO PHEIC technical assessment) was identified after Atwine's 14 May announcement.

The operational precedent she is drawing on is the 2022 Sudan ebolavirus response: 142 confirmed cases contained in 113 days without a licensed vaccine, through contact tracing. That precedent is the closest analogue to what Uganda faces now — Bundibugyo, like Sudan ebolavirus in 2022, has no approved vaccine, and containment must come from public-health measures alone. The cross-border surveillance corridor with South Sudan is being expanded alongside DRC border operations.