Perhaps,
the greatest catastrophe in the first ever recorded Ebola virus death
in Nigeria is not in the scary incursion of the highly infectious
disease, but in the potential psychological damage the unfortunate
incident might set off in the religion-soaked minds of some Nigerians.
For those who read the hand of the divine in every circumstance, there
is a tendency to give an apocalyptic tint to the emerging tragedy and
then activate a mental shut down, which would effectively pose a threat
to the global fight to contain the deadly epidemic.
In 2011,
I got a feedback from a Nigerian reader in reaction to an article I
wrote on the fight against climate change. It was a very lengthy text
message, which I cannot reproduce at the moment because I eventually
lost it; but the message could be summarised in an abridged paraphrase
thus: “Sir, all these efforts to end climate change will not yield any
positive result whatsoever because it is the will of God, who is
determined to even make it worse. Please tell your readers.” It is
obvious that this outlook is shared by many religious people. In fact,
even terrorism has its roots in religious fundamentalism manifested by
the urge to “help hasten God’s judgment on the doomed world.”
Nevertheless,
this is neither new to the world, nor peculiar to developing countries.
During Black Death, an outbreak of bubonic plague that struck Europe
and the Mediterranean area from 1347 through 1351, killing over 50
million people, contemporary theologians believed the epidemic had
religious cause: God’s judgment on a sinful humanity. As with
earthquakes, floods, and fires, medieval Christians assumed illness was a
call to repentance. So, in response, some Christians, known as
flagellants, began to ritually beat themselves as penance for their own
and for others’ sins. These new groups of flagellants appeared first in
Hungary and Germany and then spread throughout the rest of northern
Europe. They held processions through towns that lasted for as long as
33 days, each day representing one year in the life of Jesus Christ.
They went from town to town and at each stop, after a short sermon by
the leader, the penitents would whip or flog themselves before moving on
to the next town. Black Death finally disappeared when humans
understood bacteria, and the movement of germs.
Today, Ebola
virus disease or EVD, formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is on
the rampage in West Africa. Ebola virus is named for the Ebola River in
the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it was first identified in 1976.
Since then, it has visited Africa off and on, killing thousands in its
wake. A deadly viral disease characterised by massive bleeding and
destruction of internal tissues, it has killed 672 people across Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone, since it was first diagnosed in February this
year. It can be highly contagious through contact with infected bodily
fluids; and has no known cure at the moment. The only good news is that
the fatality rate of the current outbreak is around 60 per cent, whereas
the disease is known to have a very high fatality rate of about 90 per
cent.
As Nigerians, we should determine to embark on preventive
measures against the deadly epidemic. It is nothing new! We can protect
ourselves, our families, and our country, from Ebola. As Dr. Emeka
Obieze, an Enugu-based medical doctor, pointed out in an interview over
the weekend, “This is just a virus. There are uncountable viruses in
every part of the world. There was SARS; there is MERS-CoV (Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus); they were all contained. What we need
is a good medical infrastructure and environmental hygiene culture, to
address the current challenge.”
The first thing we could do is
to be wary of bush meat. The dictionary describes bush meat as the flesh
of wild animals killed for food. In this part of the world, it is a
delicacy that has come to be associated with status symbol; and so the
more you want to impress your friends or associates, the more you point
to the “bush meat joint”. In Nigeria and other countries of Africa,
poachers of the legendary African bush meat hunt with abandon. And the
reality is that a few think twice before hunting, cooking, roasting and
eating or selling the meat of a grass cutter or other wild animals.
But
the recent outbreak of Ebola virus has made African countries think
twice about this booming trend. Anyaa Vohiri, Executive Director of
Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency, issued a shocking warning to
his countrymen, in a recent proclamation: “Stop eating bush meat!
Obviously, our borders do not stop viruses from crossing, and the
killing and cross border trade of our threatened and protected animals
has health and ecological side effects.”
Several incidents of
the Ebola virus have been linked to consumption of the popular West
African delicacy. It has also been established that Ebola virus is fatal
in monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas, grass cutters and certain types of
antelopes and their ilk. Studies also reveal that outbreaks of Ebola in
humans tend to be preceded by outbreaks among certain species of local
animal populations, especially primates. For instance, the handling of
dead animals by hunters has been linked to nearly all human outbreaks in
Gabon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, during the previous
epidemic waves. So experts recommend that future outbreaks of Ebola in
humans could be predicted and stopped in the early stages by tracking
animal mortality and then sending health teams into villages when
increased animal mortality is detected.
Furthermore, we must all
wake up to the reality that the Ebola threat is nothing less than a
national emergency. It is unacceptable that Nigerian doctors are on
strike at a time like this when all hands – most especially qualified
ones – should be on deck to tackle the menace. Derek Gatherer, a
virologist at Britain’s University of Lancaster, was quoted as saying
that Nigeria is a wealthy country and can do as much as any Western
country could do to deal with the outbreak, better than her poorer West
African neighbours. But, truth is, without organisation and patriotic
motivation, not much could be achieved.
What should our
government do? Firstly, as I pointed out in a recent article, instead of
the knee-jerk approach the government used in constituting Ad
hoc/Emergency Rapid Response Committee months after Lassa Fever hit the
country, it should constitute a Standing Rapid Response Committee
immediately, for Ebola. Secondly, Nigerians should be exposed to every
truth about Ebola virus. The National Orientation Agency and the
Ministry of Health should also deploy the social media as a tool to
carry out this campaign because of its wide reach and acceptance.
Thirdly,
Nigeria has poor disease surveillance infrastructure, and this is
disturbing. The government must urgently improve disease surveillance
across the length and breadth of the nation. Fourthly, government must
start a nationwide training of environmental health officers who would
serve as foot soldiers for direct inspection of communities and ports of
entry; and assess risky practices and traditions across the country.
Finally, it is time for the government to give special attention to our
porous borders. When a rare virus does emerge from its seclusion, modern
air travel may offer it a free ride anywhere in the world; in fact,
this is how Ebola practically flew to Nigeria. It is highly inconvenient
in a global age, but those who close their borders are less likely to
have an invasion of the deadly virus.
Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Health emergency numbers for Ebola virus are 08023310923, 08097979595. E-mail: ebolainfo@health.gov.ng
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