A month after an Ebola outbreak struck Uganda in September 2022, Edward Kayiwa began feeling unwell: headaches, fever and muscle pain. He knew something was wrong, and that he had two options – go to a hospital or believe the rumours that were circulating in his community and stay home.

“I knew I was infected, but the fear was overwhelming,” the 32-year-old truck driver told Al Jazeera about the epidemic that lasted four months and killed 55 people.