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Ebola: A way forward

THERE has been an unprecedented response to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Worldwide governments, relief organisations and NGOs are doing everything they can to help prevent the virus from spreading by treating patients and providing support to healthcare staff who, at huge risk to themselves, care for those who are infected.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the Ebola strain in West Africa is not the deadliest on record, but it is the most widespread outbreak witnessed to date. The number of fatalities exceeds that of all previous Ebola outbreaks. More than 3 300 people have died so far according to the WHO, and world health officials warn that more than 20 000 people could ultimately be infected.

These are serious statistics that governments are grappling with.

Calculating the costs

The outbreak, which was first detected in March this year, is a humanitarian crisis with far-reaching social, health, political and economic implications for Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia – the hardest-hit nations in West Africa.

Governments and economists are starting to calculate the cost associated with the outbreak – and it will certainly pose a significant economic threat to countries in the midst of the Ebola crisis. The World Bank estimates that billions of dollars could be drained from West African countries by the end of next year, if the virus continues to spread at the current rate.

The virus is having a direct impact on productivity, caused by isolation and quarantine measures, as well as fears of infection. The result is a slowing of normal economic activity and cross border trade. Governments are stretching their already limited resources to  provide additional funding for treatment, and to isolate and bury victims.

Governments are also finding that they have to undertake labour-intensive tracing processes to track people who had close contact with infected individuals. This is turning out to be a difficult task. CNN reports that in Sierra Leone only 20% to 30% of available addresses can be tracked. The inability to trace all the people who have had contact with an Ebola patient is cited as one of the main reasons why the disease is spiralling out of control.

And this is just the immediate effect of the outbreak. What’s more worrying is the long-term economic impact, once the disease is contained. In the worst-case scenario, the World Bank predicts that economic growth next year could be reduced by 2.3 percentage points in Guinea and 8.9 percentage points in Sierra Leone.

In Liberia, the hardest-hit country, the economy could lose up to 11.7 percentage points in growth next year. These are extremely worrying statistics.

Assessing healthcare systems

The Ebola crisis is also putting the spotlight on the readiness of countries to deal with serious health threats.

I believe an outbreak of this scale would be a challenge for any country to manage. However, Africa has been particularly hard hit. Weaknesses exist in relatively new health systems in countries which were only beginning to stabilise after years of civil war.

In the three hardest-hit countries – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – there are only one to two doctors available per 100 000 people. Keep in mind that these doctors are concentrated in urban areas. Add to this the fact that a large number of fatalities occur among healthcare workers – more than 250 contracted the disease and more than half of these have died. Sierra Leone has lost some of its top Ebola specialists to the disease, which only compounds the crisis.

Thankfully many African countries are not currently under threat, but these countries have a mixed scorecard when it comes to readiness to deal with a potential outbreak. Being prepared for an outbreak is so critical to quickly arrest and prevent the disease from spreading. Nigeria and Senegal successfully managed to prevent the spread of Ebola when it was first detected.

An ethical dilemma

In addition to the economic reality of the virus, politically the crisis presents one of the most difficult ethical dilemmas that we as an African community could ever face.

We all know that Ebola can spread very quickly once it enters a country, and that the first line of defence is our borders. A natural first step is to close borders to protect people. But in doing this we may be denying desperately needed help to our fellow Africans. These actions may make them feel that they are being abandoned in their hour of greatest need.

Our leaders have to keep a delicate balance between taking measures to protect their own people, while offering as much help as possible to other affected countries.

Lessons learnt

The speed and the ferocity of this particular outbreak have taught us the need to be prepared. As a global community, and Africa in particular, we should learn from this crisis and emerge stronger and more able to cope with such health crises.

Africa’s medical resources are very much focused on treatment, which is the most urgent need right now. But we need to invest more in prevention and building health systems that enable us to cope with any eventuality.

I truly admire those who continue to risk their lives every day to help bring this humanitarian crisis to an end. The exceptional response to the Ebola crisis shows that we have not lost our humanity. Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia can’t overcome this crisis alone and it will take a concerted global effort to bring the epidemic under control.

The African community and the rest of the globe has to come together to offer those on the frontlines of this battle all the support and resources they need. I believe there is hope – the outbreak can be brought under control with the right equipment and sufficient resources. The world can win this battle.

 - Fin24

* This opinion piece is by Dr Susan Mboya-Kidero, president of the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation. The foundation initially came about as a response to the HIV/Aids crisis, but recently decided to switch its focus from healthcare and prevention to health systems strengthening. Opinions expressed are her own.


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