EDITORIAL

Ebola epidemic: Emergency approach not empty talk Mr. Minister

As Cameroon’s urgent response to the spreading Ebola epidemic, public health minister, Mama Andre Fouda last Friday announced the creation of a disaster committee. The Guardian Post welcomes the minister’s swift reaction but given the gravity of the contagious scourge which is already next door and the cholera outbreak in the north, Cameroon needs a national emergency approach to be declared by the head of state. That will illustrate the gravity of the virus and a commitment that the regime cares about the health of the governed.

     The deadly plague is at our door steps, if not already in the house, taking into consideration Cameroon’s long border with infected Nigeria and the teeming number of travellers by road, air and sea between the two neigbouring countries.

     The Nigerian health minister, Onyebuchi Chukwu has confirmed that the Ebola virus is in his country.The minister says the epidemic is every where in the world because people are moving from one country to the other by air. He is right. That is why the World Health Organisation, WHO, at the weekend declared Ebola as a global emergency.

   The Nigerian president, Goodluck Ebale Jonathan has classified the outbreak as a national emergency and allocated some 11 million dollars to tackle it.  Isn’t that what Cameroon should do instead of just setting up a committee without saying what resources are at its disposal to confront the epidemic should it knock at our doors? Are there specially-trained health officials at our seaports and border entering points from Nigeria to screen passengers?  What is being done to train them if they lack the know-how?

   Are the isolation centres set up in Yaounde, Douala and other border towns equipped with relevant testing devices to mass- screen passengers? Have isolated facilities been stocked with protected gear for medical personnel to attend to the victims if unfortunately the disease gets to Cameroon? How and by what means are the public being sensitised about the epidemic which kills about 90 percent of those infected?  

    According to the WHO, Ebola is a viral illness whose initial symptoms may be sudden fever, intense weakness, muscle pain and a sore throat. And that is just the beginning: subsequent stages are vomiting, diarrhea and - in some cases - both internal and external bleeding. It is said to have originated from contacts with infected animals such as chimpanzees, fruit bats and antelope.

   The virus which for now has no vaccine or cure spreads among humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids, organs or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.

    Even corpses of Ebola victims are so risky that relations or family members are not allowed to touch or even see the remains of their loved ones. The incubation period can last from two days to three weeks but diagnosis, WHO explains, is difficult.

    The disease has so far been limited to Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria but there have been speculative newspaper reports of its presence in Cameroon. Such reports have however not been confirmed. But isn’t it ethical that suspected cases be confirmed by relevant health experts before being announced? Already, unscrupulous people are sending out false information through mobile phones for reasons known only by such scammers.

    Because it is the deadliest epidemic with a capability to spread around the world, every nation is taking preventive precautions. That is what our own minister of public health, Andre Mama Fouda did at the weekend when he briefed the press on government’s measures.The minister discouraged burial rites and the eating of bush meat. He also advised Cameroonians to maintain good hygiene practices. At the risk of reiteration, the minister advised that bush meat should not be eaten but there are already devilish social media speculations that pork and cow meat are in the list of suspected animals.

     The health situation in Cameroon is compounded with the recent outbreak of cholera in the northern parts of the country which is also under siege by Boko Haram terrorists and polio. The cholera outbreak has reportedly taken the lives of some 75 people and infected about 1,400 others since April.

    According to experts, water scarcity, poor public health care and risky hygienic practices revived the disease which badly attacks the country between 2009 and 2011.

      These epidemics bring the national heath policy to scrutiny. Statistics show that four of the country’s ten regions suffer from chronic shortages of health personnel. The regions are Far North, North, Adamaoua and East.  Nationally, there are 1.43 healthcare personnel per 1,000 people and UNICEF complains that most staff deployed to the remote regions "feel that it is a punishment".

   More than half of the country's health workers are in the Centre, Littoral and West regions, yet epidemics like cholera begins mostly from the remote areas due to poor sanitation, high rate of malnutrition, lack of good drinking water and shortage of medical staff.

     That puts Cameroon in a precarious health situation and with Ebola next door, The Guardian Post urges the government to go beyond the committee set up by the ministry of public health and declare a national emergency with a significant budget to block the Ebola virus, tackle polio and cholera that are already killing Cameroonians.

But that can only be done by the head of state himself to underline the interest he has in protecting the health of his people and the menace of a virus scaring the entire world.