Zimbabwe has to take measures to ensure that Ebola, a viral disease that has wreaked havoc in West Africa, does not affect anyone in Zimbabwe.
SATURDAY DIALOGUE WITH ROPAFADZO MAPIMHIDZE
Ebola is a highly contagious disease which can easily wipe out communities and families if precautions are not adhered to.
This disease is very expensive to manage and given the shortage of funds in Zimbabwe, it is imperative that the government, through relevant ministries, embarks on awareness campaigns.
Zimbabwe cannot afford to shroud this information in secrecy like what happened when HIV and Aids reached its peaks over two decades ago.
Government officials in the early 80s were very irresponsible and they are to somehow blame for creating the HIV and Aids pandemic because there was a conspiracy of silence around the disease.
It was first said HIV was confined to homosexuals and prostitutes, and yet the marital institution was also greatly at risk. HIV and Aids has now affected and infected millions from the entire social stratum, whether or not married. But thanks to the anti-retroviral treatment that has brought the condition under control.
Now we have Ebola which can kill within a few weeks and yet there is not much information being issued to the general population.
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I was at my home village this week where I attended a funeral of an aunt who suffered a stroke and died two days later.
Scores and scores of people descended on the Muchairi homestead under Chief Mudzamiri in Buhera North.
What intrigued me was the fact that most of the mourners that I interacted with were not knowledgeable about Ebola, the disease that has wreaked havoc in West Africa.
Information does not seem to be reaching everyone, especially those in the rural area.
One woman I asked responded by asking me whether Ebola was a drink or some kind of food.
Zimbabwe is a conduit for human traffickers whose destination is South Africa because of corruption and the porous borders around this landlocked country — people from the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries from the North of the continent.
Right now, there are many West Africans fleeing Ebola-infected countries, namely Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, who will no doubt find their way to Zimbabwe on their way to South Africa.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it’s focusing on 15 more African countries in its efforts to stop the spread of Ebola. But the net may just have to be widened to include Southern African countries.
While confined to parts of rural Africa, an outbreak in a typical city would be almost impossible to control, largely because early symptoms are similar to any number of other diseases.
There’s no known cure and a 25-90% chance of death if contracted too.
Jacob Mufunda, head of WHO Country Office Mozambique, who is also a former dean at the University of Zimbabwe School of Medicine, recently gave a lecture on his personal experiences with Ebola in Sierra Leone.
He said largely the Ebola virus carriers are wild animals especially bats, monkeys and chimpanzees, and many people in those countries eat meat from one of the carrier wild animals.
Mafunda said Ebola is spread even more easily through the body secretions from the confirmed cases after death.
He added that unsafe burial of Ebola patients who have died is also very risky.
He said each case can have as many as 100 contacts and that tracing is cumbersome and resource-intensive.
“All contacts are followed up for 21 days in their homes with daily questionnaires completed on signs and symptoms of Ebola; daily recording of body temperatures and contact tracers report any contact with symptoms,” he said.
Head of the department of Chemical Pathology at the University of Zimbabwe School of Medicine, Professor Hilda Matarira in a recent interview with NewsDay noted that Ebola attacks the whole body from liver function, haematology, renal function, and one’s immunology and there is no laboratory with Level 4 facilities in Zimbabwe that can deal with this pandemic.
Prof Matarira said Zimbabwe needs to tighten immigration controls at all its border points to avoid an Ebola pandemic in Zimbabwe.
She said many people passing through these ports of entry were not being screened checked for Ebola virus and said some deportees from these countries were even just walking through.
The United States last week denied at least 77 people that were trying to flee to the US because they had the Ebola virus.
So what is stopping Zimbabwe from introducing such stringent measures?
Zimbabwe needs to be more proactive to these issues because dragging its feet will result in a terrible pace of death in this country, where resources to run hospitals is already strained.
I have no doubt that these people may just find their way to Zimbabwe and it is an alert for immigration, Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and all people that deal with tourists to be vigilant.
We urge the government to do something about this matter as a matter of urgency before lives are lost to the Ebola pandemic.
Zimbabwe needs to prepare and has to learn fast from countries that are experiencing the outbreak. This epidemic will no doubt spread worldwide if countries continue displaying arrogance about how to best deal with this pandemic.
