WHO has received a US$ 3 million grant from Wellcome to strengthen the generation and use of community evidence alongside epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data throughout the response to Bundibugyo virus disease (BVD). The investment will help ensure that operational decisions are also informed by evidence on how affected communities experience, understand and respond to the outbreak.

At a time when no specific medical countermeasures are available for BVD, understanding community perceptions, behaviours and barriers to care is critical to controlling transmission.

The funding will enable WHO and partners to expand rapid assessments for community protection – a standardized interagency approach that generates real-time social and behavioural evidence to guide outbreak response, helping ensure that response measures are shaped not only by the biology of the disease, but also by evidence on the realities people face on the ground.