By Lokiru Samuel, African Palliative Care Association
Behind every epidemic statistic is a human experience.
A patient isolated from family inside a treatment unit. A nurse offering comfort through layers of protective equipment. Families waiting for updates they may not be emotionally prepared to receive. Communities grappling with fear, grief, and stigma long after outbreaks begin to spread. As Africa responds to another Ebola outbreak, these realities are once again unfolding across affected communities.
The current outbreak was first confirmed in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, before imported cases were later identified in Uganda-underscoring how quickly public health emergencies can cross borders. Health authorities and humanitarian agencies continue to respond under difficult conditions marked by population movement, fragile health systems, insecurity, and mounting pressure on healthcare workers.
While epidemic response efforts often focus on surveillance, containment, and treatment, outbreaks also expose another persistent gap: the need to relieve suffering and preserve human dignity during crisis.
This concern was prominently raised in August 2022 during the 7th International African Palliative Care Conference organised by the African Palliative Care Association (APCA) at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. During a Ministers of Health session, leaders issued a declaration calling for the integration of palliative care into epidemic and pandemic preparedness and response systems across Africa. Find the declaration here.
The declaration marked one of the continent’s clearest collective acknowledgements that epidemic response must extend beyond disease control. It urged governments to embed palliative care within national emergency preparedness frameworks, strengthen training for frontline responders, and ensure access to holistic support addressing physical, psychosocial, and spiritual suffering during health emergencies. Four years later, the ongoing Ebola outbreak serves as a reminder that these commitments remain urgent and incomplete.
Palliative care is often misunderstood as end-of-life care. In reality, it is an approach that improves quality of life for patients and families facing serious illness through pain relief, symptom management, psychosocial support, communication, and compassionate care. During epidemics, it works alongside clinical treatment and infection prevention measures to ensure that suffering is not neglected, communication is compassionate, and the human experience is prioritized, even in highly restrictive environments.
In Ebola treatment settings, where infection prevention protocols can separate patients from loved ones for prolonged periods, compassionate communication becomes a clinical necessity, not an optional addition. Families require clear information, counselling, and reassurance. Patients need relief from pain, distress, and fear. Frontline health workers, too, carry a significant emotional burden and moral distress as they witness repeated loss under extreme pressure and limited resources.
The current outbreak has intensified these concerns, particularly because it involves the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, for which there is currently no licensed vaccine or approved treatment. In such contexts, holistic care, symptom management, emotional support, and dignity-centred communication becomes even more critical.
“Outbreaks test not only the strength of our health systems, but also our ability to preserve dignity, compassion, and humanity in moments of crisis,” said Dr. Eve Namisango, Executive Director of APCA. “Palliative care should not be seen as separate from emergency response. It is central to caring for patients, families, and communities affected by serious illness during epidemics.”
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed major gaps in how health systems respond to suffering during emergencies. Evidence published during the pandemic by APCA and partners highlighted both the need to integrate palliative care into COVID-19 responses and the preparedness challenges facing palliative care services across Africa. Readers can learn more from COVID-19 and palliative care capacity, African Region and Preparedness of African Palliative Care Services to Respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Across many countries, biomedical interventions became the dominant focus, while psychosocial support, symptom relief, and dignity-centred care were often deprioritised or inaccessible.
Despite these lessons, palliative care remains insufficiently integrated into many emergency preparedness and response frameworks across the continent. Yet Africa continues to face recurring outbreaks and humanitarian crises in contexts shaped by conflict, displacement, limited resources, and public mistrust. These realities make compassionate, person-centred care not only relevant but necessary.
Through its advocacy and partnerships, APCA has consistently emphasised that compassionate care should not disappear during emergencies. If anything, it becomes more essential in periods defined by fear, isolation, and uncertainty.
As countries strengthen preparedness for current and future health emergencies, the commitments made in 2022 must move beyond declarations. They need to be embedded in policy, training, and operational response systems.
The lesson from COVID-19 remains clear: effective epidemic response is not only about containing disease. It is also about protecting dignity, relieving suffering, and ensuring that humanity remains central to healthcare.
As Ebola once again reminds affected communities of the human cost of epidemics, Africa’s commitments to palliative care can no longer remain aspirational. They must become a core pillar of preparedness, response, and dignity in times of crisis.
