Sudan Begins Ebola Screening at Port Sudan Airport for Arrivals from Uganda — New Public Health Layer on Humanitarian Crisis

Sudan's health authorities began screening all arrivals from Uganda at Port Sudan International Airport for Ebola symptoms in mid-to-late May 2026, adding a new public health surveillance layer to a country already grappling with the world's largest humanitarian crisis. The screening measure was triggered by an Ebola or Ebola-related virus outbreak in Uganda requiring precautionary international travel health protocols. Port Sudan has been serving as Sudan's de facto capital and primary logistics hub since Khartoum fell to RSF and SAF later recaptured it; the city hosts the headquarters of most international humanitarian organizations operating in Sudan, including OCHA, WFP, UNHCR, and UNICEF. Sudan's healthcare system was already severely degraded by the civil war: 37% of health facilities are non-functional, 65% of Darfur's population is deprived of basic medical services, and WHO documented 2,052 people killed in 217+ healthcare facility attacks since April 2023. An Ebola outbreak within this context would pose extreme containment challenges. The screening at Port Sudan airport represents the SAF government's response to a specific regional health alert rather than evidence of an Ebola case in Sudan; health officials implemented standard WHO-recommended entry health screening protocols. The measure highlights Sudan's sustained vulnerability to cascading health emergencies, with cholera, measles, and malnutrition already at epidemic levels in displacement sites across Darfur and Kordofan.