What you need to know about the latest Ebola outbreak
Most people remember the devastating Ebola epidemic that swept through West Africa between 2014 and 2016, resulting in over 11,000 deaths. What you may not know is that another Ebola epidemic has been growing in Africa since mid-2018. Its full impact is not yet known.
The latest epidemic’s first case was reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) last August. Since then nearly 1,400 people have died. This week, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that the outbreak has crossed national borders: 3 cases of Ebola were confirmed in Uganda this week.
A number of heroic groups — nurses, doctors, governments, and international organisations — are on the front lines working together to fight the epidemic. But their efforts in DRC to date have been hindered by violence, political instability, and local suspicion of medical assistance.
At ONE we are tracking this Ebola outbreak closely. Here is what you should know:
Q: What is Ebola?
A: It is a severe, often fatal, illness caused by infection of the Ebola virus. The first reported outbreaks occurred in 1976 in the DRC and in an area of the Sudan situated on the Ebola River. The disease has a death rate of up to 90%.
Q: How is Ebola spread?
A: The virus can be spread to a healthy person in three ways:
- Contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person. This can occur through blood or other bodily fluids or secretions.
- Contact with infected animals, usually through preparing, cooking, or eating.
- Contact with items or environments contaminated with bodily fluids from an infected person. These may include soiled clothing, bed linens, gloves, protective equipment, and medical waste.
Q: Who is most at risk of contracting Ebola and why?
A: Since it’s transmitted through contact with infected bodily fluids, the people facing the greatest risk are health workers, family members or others in close contact with infected people, and mourners who have direct contact with bodies during burial rituals.
Q: What happened during the last major outbreak?
A: The last major outbreak occurred from March 2014 to June 2016, starting in Guinea and ultimately spreading to Liberia and Sierra Leone, infecting more than 28,600 individuals and killing more than 11,000 others in total.
Q: How have Ebola outbreaks been controlled in the past?
A: There have been over 20 Ebola outbreaks since it was first identified in 1976. Community action, support from the local government, and timely safety messaging kept many of these outbreaks from becoming epidemics. Effective control measures include using protective equipment, practicing safe burials, tracking down possible new cases, and providing education to the public to reduce stigma.
Q: Why has there been another outbreak of the disease?
A: In August 2018, the DRC notified the WHO of a cluster of 26 cases of Ebola, including 20 deaths, in North Kivu Province. The location of this outbreak poses a particularly high public health threat at the national and regional levels because the province has a big population, shares several national and international borders, and has been experiencing intense conflict and a worsening humanitarian crisis.
On June 11, the WHO confirmed a case of Ebola in Uganda after a five-year-old boy traveled with his family from the DRC to Uganda. Heartbreakingly, the little boy and his grandmother have both died from Ebola, and his brother is now infected. Health officials are working to track other people who may be at risk to try and limit the spread of the disease.
Q: What are the major challenges preventing health workers from containing this outbreak?
A: Response efforts have been complicated by armed conflict in the area and a local suspicion of both the government and of medical assistance. The very epicenter of the outbreak is in a conflict zone: dozens of armed groups are fighting over land, natural resources, ethnicity, and religion. Nearly 200 health facilities have been attacked in the DRC this year, forcing health workers to suspend or delay vaccinations and treatments. Without adequate guarantees of security, health workers have not been able to efficiently reach all those affected or those at high risk of exposure, which gives the virus time and space to spread.
Q: What about the Ebola vaccine?
A: An experimental Ebola vaccine — not yet authorised for widespread use — has shown to protect people from the virus. It is being distributed on a “compassionate basis” to protect the people that are at highest risk of the Ebola outbreak. So right now the vaccine is only available to health workers and others that are in contact with those infected with Ebola.
Q: Who is working to contain the outbreak?
A: Health workers are at the frontlines of this outbreak, working day in and day out to contain the outbreak. Funding to contain the outbreak comes from the countries impacted as well as other donor countries, the World Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and other non-governmental organizations.
Q: What are these organisations and governments doing to prevent it from spreading further?
A: To improve understanding around the virus and fight misinformation, governments and local community members are stepping up. For example, in the DRC, a radio program that reaches people even in the most remote areas of the country has been reassuring and educating listeners on Ebola. In another part of the country, community members go door-to-door in every neighborhood to explain Ebola vaccines, contact tracing, the treatment of Ebola, and the vulnerability of women and children to the disease. In just two weeks, the campaign reached over 600,000 people.
In Uganda, the government and the WHO have dispatched a rapid response team to identify others at risk of infection and to follow up on possible cases. The country has already vaccinated about 4,700 health workers against the disease, according to a joint statement by WHO and Ugandan health officials.
Other countries, like Tanzania and Kenya, regularly conduct cross border disease outbreak simulations to prepare for the possibility of the spread of Ebola.
Q: What does foreign aid do in the face of a contagious disease outbreak?
A: Both development assistance from donors for health programs and dedicated resources within affected countries are critical to strengthening health systems and improving health infrastructure: these efforts help prevent, detect, and mitigate disease outbreaks. When there is a disease outbreak, additional funding is needed to rapidly scale up prevention and treatment measures, and support the healthcare workforce.
Q: How does Ebola affect a country in the long run?
A: The 2014 Ebola epidemic is a staggering illustration of the economic consequences of just one outbreak of the disease: in 2015, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone lost US $2.2 billion in gross domestic product, threatening economic stability and private sector growth in the region.
Ensuring our global community is healthy, educated and empowered leads to major benefits, like economic growth. Failing to protect health could quickly thwart this potential. If individuals are infected with Ebola, they cannot invest in bettering their community, kids cannot attend school and adults cannot pursue careers. Yet quality of life skyrockets when prevention and treatment are affordable and accessible.
Soure- www.one.org
Deuteronomy 7:15- The LORD will take away from thee all sicknesses.
Posted: June 24, 2019 3:38 pm
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