WHO advocates $10m to fund Ebola containment, research

The World Health Organisation (WHO), in co-operation with public health experts, has called for the establishment of a $10 million fund to support Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) intervention.

The intervention will address financing for EVD outbreak surveillance, case management, cross-border collaboration, logistics and coordination.

WHO says it has observed that communication, financing, infection control, effective contact tracing, community participation and research are gaps currently hampering the control of the disease.

This follows the outbreak of EVD currently ravaging parts of West Africa, with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea enduring the brunt.

In a statement made available to BusinessDay, Luis Sambo, WHO regional director for Africa, said the current trend of the epidemic and the potential risk of cross-border and international spread constituted a public health matter of grave concern.

Sambo observed that the current Ebola outbreak had the potential to spread outside the affected countries and beyond the region, if urgent and relevant containment measures were not put in place.

He pointed out the need to improve communication between governments, partners and communities in order to generate reliable evidence for implementation of effective and relevant action.

“The ongoing Ebola outbreak is the largest reported to date, in terms of number of cases, deaths and geographical spread and for the first time, the Ebola virus is circulating in both urban and rural communities. The impact of this outbreak has been enormous in terms of loss of human lives and negative socio-economic effects,” Sambo said.

“There is the need to undertake research to address the knowledge gap in relation to the natural history of the Ebola Virus Disease, the technology for treatment and more relevant preventive methods,” he said.

Osahon Enabulele, vice president, Commonwealth Medical Association (CMA), said although there was no specific treatment for Ebola virus, emphasis should be on maintaining high environmental and personal hygiene in the country.

“More often than not, when there are movements of people from the affected countries, especially when you have a very defective, weak surveillance system at the entry points – land, air and sea – people from infected regions or localities can be given access into your country. That leads to the possibility of having it spread into new territories, especially if there is contact with those infected persons. An Ebola patient will start manifesting the symptoms no more than 25 days after he contracts the virus,” Enabulele said.

Meanwhile, apprehension across Ebola-affected countries and neighbouring countries is threatening to dampen the business climate.

As a result of Guinea’s dependence on its mining exports, the impact of shutting down operations of foreign mining firms in April 2014 could be devastating. Though Senegal has re-opened its border with Guinea, which was closed in March 2014, Ivory Coast recently announced it was shutting its own border with the same country.

London Mining in June 2014 announced its evacuation of its staff from Sierra Leone and imposed travel restrictions due to the outbreak of EVD. Liberia’s ‘bush meat’ business is not different, following the ban on the sale and consumption of ‘bush meat’, citing Ebola’s origination from monkeys, bats, chimpanzees and other wildlife. The country has strong attraction for consumption of ‘bush meat’ and its sale is a huge business for many.

Arik Air, a prominent airline in Nigeria, suspended operations into Monrovia (Liberia) and Freetown (Sierra Leone) effective yesterday, July 28, 2014 until further notice, saying the decision was a precautionary measure aimed at safeguarding the lives of Nigerians.

The highly-contagious virus is one of the most deadly diseases in the world. According to data from the WHO, as at July 20, 2014, there had been 1,093 cases and 660 deaths from EVD in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

As part of measures to prevent the spread of EVD, the WHO and the Nigerian government have shut down First Consultants Medical Centre Limited, a hospital on Ikoyi Road, Obalende, Lagos, where the first victim in Nigeria, Patrick Sawyer, a Liberian, died.

The WHO African Region has also opened a sub-regional outbreak co-ordination centre in Conakry, Guinea. There are, however, fears that the over 200 passengers onboard the flight which brought Sawyer to Nigeria may have been exposed to the deadly virus and could spread the disease if they are not quarantined.

ALEXANDER CHIEJINA