Raising awareness will make for smoother implementation of the basic public health strategies that can prevent an Ebola outbreak here. So the tried and proven strategies include rapid identification and isolation of infected people in controlled health facilities and systems for tracing people who have been in contact with Ebola patients so they can be monitored.
The Ebola outbreak in parts of Africa is causing considerable panic and fear in this country, with a domino effect of rumours and misinformation spreading at a pace that could trigger reactions that are unfair and discriminatory and possibly not even helpful in protecting the local population against the disease.To counteract this and ensure a high level of preparedness, in the unfortunate event that any cases are detected in T&T, a programme of public education must be quickly implemented. If more people know the facts about Ebola–symptoms of the disease, how it is spread, how it is being handled and where they could go for help–there would be much less of the hysteria that seems to be taking hold in certain quarters. It will also ease anxiety among health workers and others who will be first responders if the virus arrives in this country.
It is easy to rush to judgment and accuse doctors and health workers who are asking for high compensation and insurance of greed. However, it is more likely that they are motivated by fear, unsure of the consequences and not confident that they will be properly equipped or protected if called upon to treat an Ebola case locally.Some of the panicked reactions may have to do with the fact that for the first time this disease, the current outbreak of which has a mortality rate of over 70 per cent, is spreading beyond African borders, with cases now being diagnosed in Europe and United States. In the absence of tried and proven methods of treatment, fears are increasing of an Ebola pandemic.
A top UN health official has predicted the death toll from the Ebola crisis will rise to more than 4,500 lives this week from among 9,000 people infected. So it is vital that T&T quickly learns how to defeat Ebola.Even so, local authorities should be careful not to rush to impose travel bans, visa restrictions and other heavy-handed measures as has already been done in neighbouring Caricom countries, without carefully thinking through the implications. Such bans will affect not only visitors but African nationals with work and family ties to this country, as well as T&T nationals who are working, living, or frequently travel to that part of the world.
There could also be unwelcome and long-term effects on diplomatic relations with countries with which T&T has deep historic, cultural and economic linkages if, driven by fear and misinformation, the wrong kinds of measures are implemented.Raising awareness will make for smoother implementation of the basic public health strategies that can prevent an Ebola outbreak here. So the tried and proven strategies include rapid identification and isolation of infected people in controlled health facilities and systems for tracing people who have been in contact with Ebola patients so they can be monitored.Fear and misinformation have been accelerating the spread of Ebola in other parts of the world. A well informed population could be T&T's strongest defence against this disease.