Kampala

Kampala is Uganda's capital and largest city, home to approximately 1.7 million people and situated on a series of hills along the northern shore of Lake Victoria. It serves as the country's political, commercial, and transport hub, hosting the national Parliament, the main international airport at Entebbe 41 km to the south, and the headquarters of most government ministries and major corporations.

Founded as a royal capital of the Kingdom of Buganda, the city grew substantially under British colonial administration from the late 19th century Onward. Today Kampala is one of East Africa's fastest-growing cities, with an official metropolitan population exceeding 3 million when Wakiso district's peri-urban ring is included. It is the primary entry point for international travellers to Uganda and a regional hub for humanitarian and public-health operations.

Kampala's dense transport networks and international connectivity make it a critical node in any regional outbreak response. Its hospitals, including Kibuli Muslim Hospital and Mulago National Referral Hospital, carry the primary burden of tertiary clinical care for Uganda, and its laboratory infrastructure anchors the country's disease surveillance system.

Kampala became a confirmed Bundibugyo Ebola cluster site in May 2026. Uganda's index case, a 59-year-old Congolese national imported from DRC, was admitted to Kibuli Muslim Hospital in Kampala on 11 May and died on 14 May 2026 . By WHO Disease Outbreak News DON605 on 29 May, Uganda's confirmed cases had risen from 2 to 9, all in Kampala and neighbouring Wakiso district, indicating local transmission rather than a single traveller . The concentration of cases in the capital triggered heightened contact tracing across both districts and the deployment of mobile laboratories to the DRC border area.