It is 7th October,
2014, 4:00 am and I just woke up with a pounding headache, apparently a symptom
of a hangover as a result of a little shindig I had with some Muslim friends
yesterday, an Eid celebration holiday in my Country, Ghana. This headache was
to be compounded further by the daily updates blurring from my little battery
powered radio, which is tuned in default to the BBC, announcing the ravaging
effects of Ebola on THREE WEST AFRICAN STATES (GUINEA, LIBERIA AND SIERRA
LEONE) and the latest victim, a Spanish nurse who became the first nurse to
contract the disease outside Africa. I take out Nigeria because it has
effectively halted the spread. West Africa is suffocating under a heap of
stigma and stereotype; nothing new to Africa so never mind. Images of a police
convoy racing through the streets of Spain and leading the ambulance conveying
this nurse to a quarantine centre suddenly conjured the two word phrase ‘IF
ONLY’ which hit me like a missile. Then, it became clear, how certain actions
and inactions has lead to this scourge spreading like wildfire. If only
everyone has been a little less ignorant but more pro-active, the world would
not be threatened by an Ebola Armageddon today. There are a lot of experts
bandying frightening statistics and projections around so since I am not a
health expect I shall not stray into that territory. So what about ‘IF ONLY’??
Let’s start.
In my opinion, the World Health
Organisation (W.H.O.), exhibited some form of naivety when
at the onset of the disease in Guinea, some nations in West Africa decided
to take ‘pro-active’ actions to prevent the disease from entering their
countries. The W.H.O. claimed Ebola at the time was not an epidemic yet
therefore countries should not take ‘panic’ measures. This raises a curious
question. Was the .W.H.O., at the time, asking countries to wait until the
disease reaches an epidemic level before taking any action? This lead to a lot
of complacency since the W.H.O. has all the expertise and is considered an
authority on world health issues. Maybe the W.H.O. was oblivious of how
Africans culturally treat their dead but that cannot be forgiven because this
is not the first case of Ebola in Africa.
THE
WORLD WOULD HAVE BEEN SAFE FROM EBOLA TODAY
- If only people have not insisted on applying some
outmoded cultural practises which are usually steeped in superstition and
religious bigotry in some parts of Africa.
- If only, people have not insisted on handling
their own dead relatives as most cultures demand in Africa.
- If only people have not attacked health workers
with machetes and other weapons and insisted on taking away sick and dead
relatives.
- If only people have been less superstitious and
have been more realistic.
- If only governments have educated citizens on all
the above.
- If only governments have paid less attention to
the W.H.O. at the onset and have continued with proactive actions to halt
the disease in its track.
- If only some people around the rest of the world
would know and understand that there are 18 countries in West Africa and
only 3 and a half have been affected by Ebola and if they would take
actual care to know these countries in order to take the appropriate
actions when people from these countries arrive in their countries.
- If only people would understand that Ebola does
not spread like flu does.
- If
only people would volunteer rather than stigmatise out of fear.
- If only the rest of the world have realised early
that this virus has the potential to ruin world security and that
it isn't just an African problem.
- If
only a little bit of common sense have been applied early.
Then the world would
not have arrived at this point.
Ebola had only managed to spread in
3 out 18 West African Countries. This happened mainly because Ebola is not and
has never been a ‘West African disease’ therefore when it started, people
attributed superstition to it and insisted on performing normal funeral rites
(i am not justifying superstition). In doing so, a lot of people came into
contact with infected corpses and sick people which further ignited the chain
of infections. That was how the disease spiraled out of control. Therefore,
it’s not as if someone with Ebola sneezes and everyone next to him/her catches
the disease. Medical experts have clearly stated that unless one comes into
contact with the bodily fluids of someone who is very ill from the disease, one
will just not catch it(www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en).
Every country has an absolute right to protect its citizens anyway they must
but let's becareful not to allow individuals and organisations with
crude political agenda, to hijack this tragedy for their benefit. For example
why would someone tell their kids not to receive gifts or letters from Africa.
It's absurd!!
