In August 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO)
formally declared Ebola an International Public Health Emergency – the largest,
most severe and most complex outbreak in four-decade history of the disease.
Since then, it has been a race against time to save
lives in sub-Saharan Africa especially in six West African countries
worst hit by the disease – Liberia, Nigeria, Mali ,Senegal, Guinea and Sierra
Leone.
Drugs that could potentially treat those already
infected and the vaccines to protect people at risk of new infections are all
in the earliest stages of testing. Even if they pass the test of time, they
possibly cannot be produced in large quantities to quickly enough to stem the
widening epidemic anytime soon.
Ebola is a viral disease that is extremely infectious.
Laboratory experiments on non-human primates suggest that even a single virus
may be enough to trigger a fatal infection in any particular country.
In its latest situational reports, the WHO confirms
that by January 14th, 2015, the Ebola death toll has hit 2806 deaths
in Guinea with 1814 cases, 8331 deaths and 3538 cases in Liberia, 8 deaths and
6 cases in Mali, 8 deaths and 20 deaths and 8 cases in Nigeria, 10,124 deaths
and 3062 in Sierra Leone and only one case in Senegal.
Traditional
public-health measures, like finding and isolating patients who become sick,
tracing their contacts and people that they have been in contact with and using
stringent infection control procedures in hospitals, remain the best bet for
containing the epidemic in Africa.
Most
African countries have put in place mitigation measures to ensure that the
virus does not find its way in their country. With high-tech screening in most
airports, the hope is that country residents will be safe.
As
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put it: “We do not know how to
treat Ebola or vaccinate against it - and it will be a long time before we do.”
Ebola outbreak presents
a major humanitarian crisis and is a tragedy for those affected and their
families and threatens to derail great economic strides that have been achieved
by the affected countries
So how can we cheap in, in our small ways to help
fight if not eradicate the disease in Africa?
The world over, Public Private Partnerships (PPPs)
have been known to work better to alleviate or reduce the spread of global
diseases. For instance, The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation in Kenya
joined forces with Rotary International and other partners in early 2014 to
create awareness about Polio eradication in the country. As a result, Kenya has
continued to record low cases of Polio disease following a countrywide ‘This
Close’ campaign that sensitized the importance of Polio immunization.
In the same breath, corporate organizations have an
opportunity to not only create awareness about the deadly Ebola disease but
also sensitize the general public on steps they should take to keep away from
the global killer. Knowledge is power.
First, in July 2014, Airtel Sierra Leone partnered
with the Government in the fight against the disease. The company and the staff
donated One Hundred Million Leones to The President of Sierra Leone, H.E.
President Ernest Bai Koroma and an additional commitment to further support the
Government to broaden Information, Communications Technology (ICT) development
in the country. To date, Airtel has contributed one billion Leones to Sierra
Leone Government to support Ebola eradication – both in cash and in-kind.
These are some of the small steps but with big
impacts that in the end will see Africa be able to contain the disease in the
end.
Secondly, through a Pan-African campaign in the
fight against Ebola in the continent, Airtel Africa in partnership with key
stakeholders in the continent rolled out a campaign – AfricaAgainstEbola where
they have provided a toll free number whereby the public in their 17 Operating
Countries can use to reach out to relevant partners to report and obtain
feedback on Ebola cases in the specific countries.
The campaign will help in the dissemination of
Ebola related communication designed by health experts to the public through
SMS and social media platforms.
Airtel in partnership with Africel and other mobile
operators have also provided close user group service for data collection
through contact tracers.
To further support this, Airtel has also worked
with mobile companies in providing support to the Sierra Leone Government for
hazard pay by providing over 15,000 temporary support staff that have been
deployed in the country to manage contact tracing, treatment and holding
centres and also plan burial arrangements all who are paid through Airtel
mobile money by Airtel, Africel and Splash.
Finally, Airtel and other mobile phone companies in
Tanzania this year partnered with the African Union to support the same in West
Africa. The initiative – AfricaAgainstEbola will use an SMS dedicated platform
to raise funds for the deployment of African health workers to the affected
countries.
According to Israelmore Ayivor, a leadership entrepreneur, author and
speaker “With teamwork, any little contribution you make yields greater output
when it meets the contribution of others, and guess who gets the plus? Everyone
in the team!”
We have the best resources to contain the disease
as a country and as a people. Together let’s embrace Public Private
Partnerships and kick out Ebola that threatens to attack the very fabric of the
African continent.
This article is authored by Sudipto Chowdhury,
Airtel Sierra Leone Managing Director
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