As Ebola spread through West Africa in 2014, Grace Nakibaala worried about her mother, an optician who was regularly in contact with travelers at Entebbe International Airport, the nation’s main airport.

Precautions to prevent the spread of the disease were minimal and seemed inadequate, she says. Mostly, people at the airport were just encouraged to wash their hands after using the restroom.

“I was not fully convinced that this situation could safeguard Ugandans from infectious diseases,” Nakibaala says.

It all started with the recent Ebola outbreak in WestAfrica. My mum is an Ophthalmological Clinical Officer working with Entebbe Hospital right next to the national main entry point. I was scared that she was at risk of contracting Ebola since one of the initial signs was red eyes. At that point I asked myself how can I save my mother from contracting Ebola? I did not ask how the government or NGOs or WHO can save my mother?! As a final year architecture student I immediately asked for where the Isolation centres had been set up as the nation was getting prepared to handle an outbreak if it spilled over to Uganda and how they were designed. Just by first engagement, there were many issues that seemed wrong so I decided to investigate the architectural suitability of these Isolation centres as my final year dissertation. I had numerous trainings by World Health Organisation (WHO), Infectious Disease Institute (IDI), Doctors without borders, in Ebola case management and Especially dangerous pathogens management.