Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Ebola Preparedness and Response in South Sudan, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Scoping Review
European Scientific Journal ESJ·
- DOI
- 10.19044/esipreprint.8.2026.p97
- PMID
- —
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- W7201850370
- Study type
- Journal article
- Publisher
- European Scientific Institute, ESI
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Embedding durable environmental services, practical staff education, community outreach, and regional cooperation into standard health budgets could improve future epidemic resilience.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
How do water, sanitation, and hygiene services influence outbreak preparedness and response efforts for Ebola virus disease in fragile environments?
Study design
A peer-reviewed scoping review that charted and thematically synthesized forty-one sources retrieved from multiple academic and institutional databases.
Population and setting
Health systems and local populations within Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan during periods of Ebola virus activity.
Main findings
Thematic analysis revealed that functional hygiene infrastructure and waste management facilitate infection control measures. Readiness was frequently undermined by deficient facilities, equipment shortages, minimal hands-on training, and reliance on short-term external support. National assessments indicated divergent operational capacities and structural challenges across the evaluated regions.
Public-health relevance
Embedding durable environmental services, practical staff education, community outreach, and regional cooperation into standard health budgets could improve future epidemic resilience.
Important limitations
The methodology depends entirely on previously published reports and grey literature rather than original data collection. The authors acknowledge that additional targeted studies are necessary to evaluate long-term intervention sustainability.
GIDS interpretation
This document offers a consolidated perspective on environmental and logistical preparedness factors for filovirus events in specific African nations. Researchers examining historical response frameworks or developing new monitoring indicators may find its thematic breakdown useful for contextual background.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 11 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.