Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has established an Ebola Simulation Centre for healthcare workers in Nairobi, Kenya, to reinforce regional emergency response capacity for the ongoing Ebola disease outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
This temporary facility will prioritise training for MSF medical responders and frontline workers who will support Ebola disease response operations in the DRC.
The initial participants will be experienced MSF staff who will support the response in DRC, and the training will eventually be rolled out to Kenya’s Ministry of Health and other organisations to support outbreak responses.
“Preparedness saves lives. Training healthcare workers before deployment to outbreak settings is essential to ensuring a safe, effective, and timely response,” said Dr Angela Thiongo, MSF Project Coordinator.
“Our goal is to strengthen our capacity to respond where needs are greatest while protecting both patients and healthcare workers.”
Since May 2026, MSF has been responding to the Ebola disease outbreak, caused by the Bundibugyo virus, in DRC.
The situation is still a public health emergency of alarming proportions.
The severity is heightened by the nature of the Bundibugyo virus, which currently has limited medical tools to detect and combat it, and the challenging environment in which it is spreading in eastern DRC.
To build an immediate pool of medical responders capable of operating safely at the scale and speed required by this outbreak, MSF is conducting a series of intensive two-day clinical workshops in Nairobi, running from 15 June 2026 to August 2026.
The Nairobi simulation centre is strictly a dry training and simulation facility.
No suspected or confirmed Ebola patients are being treated, isolated, or housed at the site, and the facility does not serve as a quarantine zone. To maintain the highest safety standards, the centre will operate under a controlled participant movement protocol and will not receive participants arriving from Ebola-affected response areas.
These workshops follow recent sessions held in Brussels and focus on preparing participants for rapid deployment to active outbreak zones in the DRC and Uganda.
Through realistic simulations and hands-on exercises, participants are equipped with the skills needed to work effectively in Ebola disease treatment settings.
The sessions will cover emergency preparedness and coordination, infection prevention and control measures, and the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Crucially, this setup is designed for knowledge transfer: trained frontline workers will not only support the response in the DRC but also mentor and support other health workers in the country.
MSF has vast experience responding to Ebola disease outbreaks.
The organisation has been an active partner in many responses, including with Ebola disease caused by Bundibugyo virus, having responded to outbreaks in 2007 and 2012. At a time when public concern around Ebola disease preparedness is high, MSF emphasises the importance of accurate information and responsible reporting.
Ebola disease is serious, but outbreaks can be contained through timely interventions, strong community engagement, and effective public health measures.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
