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Tag: Ebola

  • Ebola: Kaduna to spend N116m on thermometers, training

    Kaduna State has said it has set aside the sum of N116 million to purchase 10,000 clinical thermometers and hold sensitisation workshops for 13,000 school teachers on the deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) across 23 local government areas of the state.

    State Commissioner of Education, Mohammed Ali, disclosed this while declaring the workshop and the subsequent distribution of the clinical thermometers for the Kaduna Central Senatorial Zone opened in Kaduna on Tuesday.

    Ali said the state would not to leave any stone unturned in ensuring all that is required to prevent EVD in the state and particularly in schools.

    “This is a workshop where 13,000 teachers will be trained on ways of preventing the EVD and it will take place in the three senatorial zones between now and the September 16 this year, and certainly before the schools resume on the 22nd September resumption date.

    “The state government is spending 116 million naira to purchase 10, 000 clinical thermometers and hold the various workshops for both private and public schools. Each school will be given two thermometers each.

    “Seventy-five million naira will be used to purchase the thermometers at the cost of 7500 each, while the balance of 41 million naira will be used for the workshops, refreshments and workshop papers.”

    He gave government’s assurance towards the welfare of pupils and students including the teachers in the state. Nonetheless, Ali appealed to school representatives to ensure that at their return both teaching and non teaching are also trained, while the thermometers are strictly and judiciously utilised.

    Earlier in his remarks, the Chairman State Universal Basic Education Board, Mr. Ishaya Dare Akawu urged teachers to take the fighting of EVD seriously, emphasising the need for a healthy learning environment. He called on teachers to inculcate a culture of hygiene in their schools and among their pupils/students.

    He said schools would be monitored, assessed and graded, adding that the yardstick for the assessment would be how neat their environment is.

    Responding, the Kaduna State President National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Dr. Vincent Ogini, commended the government for coming up with the initiative. He pledged on behalf of the private schools to ensure compliance and also engage in robust sanitations and hygiene practices in their schools.

    The National President Parents Teachers Association (PTA) Comrade Danjuma Shehu reiterated that it is their task to protect children and since parents had entrusted the lives of their children to teachers, the importance of the workshop would not be over emphasised.

    The Consultant, Dr. Salma Abbasi of the World Wide Group said the workshop was the beginning of how they would strive to change teachers behavior on their approach to hygiene and sanitation, and sensitise them on EVD, taking them through necessary measures of the virus to prevent its spread.

  • Ebola: OAU patient quarantined , under surveillance

    Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu has said that there is no new cases of Ebola Virus Disease in the country, though the a reported case  in  Ile-ife, Osun State is being investigated.

    The minister stated this in a press statement on Wednesday  signed by his media aide Mr. Dan Nwomeh.
    According to the minister’s update on the virus in Nigeria, the number of people under surveillance in Lagos has reduced drastically to 16 while Port Harcourt has 400.
    He stated: “there  are no new cases of at present.  There is no single current case of confirmed EVD in Nigeria. However, a suspected case of EVD from Ile-Ife, a university student who had contact with the late Port Harcourt doctor at a naming ceremony in Port Harcourt has been quarantined and is being investigated.”

    “Regarding contacts currently under surveillance, Lagos now has 16 contacts under surveillance. A total of 350 contacts who were previously on surveillance have been discharged having completed 21 days of observation.

    “Port Harcourt has 490 contacts under surveillance. It is a mixed group consisting of tertiary and quaternary contacts of Mr. Sawyer’s. Sixteen  (16) contacts have already been discharged from surveillance in Port Harcourt having completed 21 days of observation.”

    He also revealed that “as  of today, the total number of confirmed cases of EVD in Nigeria stands at nineteen (19), fifteen (15) in Lagos, four (4) in Port Harcourt.

    “The total number of deaths from EVD in Nigeria stands at seven (7). Five (5) of this died in Lagos, one (1) in a private hospital, the index case Mr. Sawyer, and the other four (4) in the isolation ward in Lagos State.

    “Two of the seven (7) died in Port Harcourt, the medical doctor who died in a private hospital and the contact, a patient in the hospital at the time the doctor was also on admission, who died in the isolation ward in Rivers State.

    “The total number of patients who have been successfully managed and discharged is now ten (10). The latest are the sister of the Port Harcourt doctor who was discharged from the isolation ward in Rivers State on 7th September 2014, and the wife of the same doctor who was discharged from the isolation ward in Lagos State yesterday, 9th September 2014.  (Please note that the ten (10) patients successfully managed and discharged are among the total number of twelve (12) survivors of EVD in Nigeria).”

  • Reps, minister meet on schools’ resumption Monday

    Reps, minister meet on schools’ resumption Monday

    The House of Representatives Committee on Education, on Wednesday, said it had invited the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, and the Nigeria Medical Association to a meeting over the resumption date for schools.

    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Chairman of the House Committee on Education, Aminu Suleiman, disclosed this to journalists on the sideline of oversight tour to some tertiary institutions in Lagos.

    Suleiman said the committee would meet with the minister and NMA officials on September 15 to discuss the resumption date for public and private schools in the country.

    He said, ” It is true that government has reviewed the position earlier taken on the resumption, government may have some reasons that are not available to us.

    “But since the Minister of Health has initially justified the reason for the review, the legislature decided to abide by that position.

    “Now, a superior, more professionally position has been taken by those supposed to drive the project in the first place.

    “The NMA advised that the review of the date will not be in the best interest of the country health wise.”

    The lawmaker said as representatives of the people, the House decided to invite the executive through the minister and the NMA, “which we have done.”

    “The meeting is slated for September 15, so that we can interact and arrive at the very best position.”

  • Ebola: Delaying schools’ resumption is irrational – Minister

    Ebola: Delaying schools’ resumption is irrational – Minister

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, on Wednesday said that delaying schools resumption till December or early next year based on Ebola Virus Disease is irrational.

    He made the remarks while briefing State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan.

    According to him, the decision to bring forward the resumption date to 22nd of this month is based on expert advice.

    While insisting that it is safe for the students to resume, the minister said there is presently no patient under treatment anywhere in the country and that there is no community transmission of the disease in Nigeria like other countries.

    Stressing that Nigeria is making good progress against the disease, he assured that Nigeria will continue to maintain vigilance at the entry points to make sure no fresh case comes into the country.

    On schools’ resumption, he said: “The Minister of Education after meeting with the commissioners for education from the 36 states and FCT decided when public schools should open which they told us is September 22. In taking that decision, they used information that was given by the federal Ministry of Health to the fact there is actually no reason now with the expert information we have at hand why schools cannot resume earlier than the original date of October 13.

    “I think people should just allow us to do the work we have been doing very professionally. It was based on advice given by the Ministry of Health that the Minister of Education took the original decision that it was going to be in October and nobody quarreled with the minister. Now the minister, based on expert advice, has come back to say well, for us, if you are asking us to resume earlier than October 13, we don’t have any reason to stop that.”

     

  • Ebola: FG orders screening of passengers on domestic routes

    Ebola: FG orders screening of passengers on domestic routes

    As part of efforts to prevent the spread of the deadly Ebola Virus Disease in Nigeria, the Federal Government has directed the Port Health Services unit of the Ministry of Health to extend the screening of passengers hitherto restricted to international passengers to those travelling on domestic routes.

    As a follow up to the directive, the unit has commenced the screening of passengers traveling on domestic routes.

    The exercise started on Wednesday at the local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos.

    The move is to ensure that suspected victims of Ebola do not escape quarantine as well as restrict them from travelling to another state.

    At the private terminal otherwise known as MMA2 at the local airport on Wednesday, health officials we seen carrying out the exercise on passengers at the departure hall after collecting their boarding pass.

    In line with the directive, all passengers having obtained their boarding pass from their choice airlines are expected to proceed to the two special desks provided for the health officials who will use the thermometer infrared equipment to check them.

  • Ebola: Liberia president urges more ‘international assistance’

    Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said she expects the Ebola crisis gripping her country to worsen in the coming weeks as health workers struggle with inadequate supplies, a lack of outside support and a population in fear.

    “It remains a very grave situation,” Reuters quoted as saying to an audience at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, via Skype from Liberia’s capital Monrovia.

    “It is taking a long time to respond effectively. We expect it to accelerate for at least another two or three weeks, before we can look forward to a decline.”

    The death toll from the worst Ebola outbreak in history has hit at least 2,296 across West Africa, with more than half of those cases in the impoverished and war-damaged state of Liberia, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday.

    Liberia’s national defense minister told the United Nations Security Council earlier on Tuesday that Ebola posed a threat to the country’s national existence and was “spreading like wild fire and devouring everything in its path.”

    Sirleaf said Liberia’s response to the disease was hobbled by a lack of treatment and testing centers, a dearth of health care workers, and persistent fear and ignorance of the disease among the country’s population.

    .

  • WHO: Ebola death toll reaches 2,288

    WHO: Ebola death toll reaches 2,288

    The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed 2,288 people, with half of them dying in the last three weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

    It said that 47% of the deaths and 49% of the total 4,269 cases had come in the 21 days leading up to 6 September.

    The health agency warned that thousands more cases could occur in Liberia, which has had the most fatalities.

    The outbreak, which was first reported in Guinea in March this year, has also spread to Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

    In Nigeria, eight people have died out of 21 cases, while one case of Ebola has been confirmed in Senegal, the WHO said in its latest update.

    On Monday, the agency called on organisations combating the outbreak in Liberia to scale up efforts to control the outbreak “three-to-four fold”.

    Ebola spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.

    However, the WHO says conventional means of controlling the outbreak, which include avoiding close physical contact with those infected and wearing personal protective equipment, were not working well in Liberia.

    A fourth US aid worker has contracted the virus and is receiving treatment at Emory University hospital

    The reason for this remains unclear; however, experts say it could be linked to burial practices, which can include touching the body and eating a meal near it.

    There are also not enough beds to treat Ebola patients, particularly in the capital Monrovia, with many people told to go back home, where they may spread the virus.

    Sophie-Jane Madden, of aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, told the BBC that health workers at the largest treatment centre in Monrovia were completely overwhelmed: “Our teams are every day turning away people who are desperately seeking healthcare.”

    Health agencies have warned of an exponential surge in the number of Ebola cases in Liberia

    Meanwhile, the US says it will help the African Union mobilise 100 African health workers to the region and contribute an additional $10m (£6.2m) in funds to deal with the outbreak.

    The announcement comes as a fourth US aid worker infected with the deadly virus was transported to a hospital in Atlanta for treatment.

    The identity of the aid worker has not yet been revealed.

    Two other aid workers who were treated at the same hospital have since recovered from an Ebola infection.

    Separately on Tuesday, the UN’s envoy in Liberia said at least 80 Liberian health workers had died from Ebola, according to the Associated Press.

    Karin Landgren described the outbreak as a “latter-day plague” that was growing exponentially. She added that health workers were operating without proper protective equipment, training or pay, in comments to the UN Security Council.

  • Ebola: Liberia ‘faces huge surge’

    Ebola: Liberia ‘faces huge surge’

    Ebola is spreading exponentially in Liberia, with thousands of new cases expected in the next three weeks, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

    Conventional methods to control the outbreak were “not having an adequate impact”, the UN’s health agency added.

    At least 2,100 people infected with Ebola have died so far in the West African states of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria this year.

    The WHO says 79 health workers have been killed by the virus.

    Organisations combating the outbreak needed to scale-up efforts “three-to-four fold”, the WHO said.

    It highlighted Liberia’s Montserrado county, where 1,000 beds were needed for infected Ebola patients but only 240 were available, leading to people being turned away from treatment centres.

    Transmission of the virus in Liberia was “already intense”, and taxis being used to transport infected patients appeared to be “a hot source of potential virus transmission”, the WHO said.

    “As soon as a new Ebola treatment facility is opened, it immediately fills to overflowing with patients, pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload,” it added.

    “When patients are turned away… they have no choice but to return to their communities and homes, where they inevitably infect others.”

    The Ebola disease spreads between humans by direct contact with infected blood, bodily fluids or organs, or indirectly through contact with contaminated environments.

     

    Conventional means of controlling the outbreak, which include avoiding close physical contact with those infected and wearing personal protective equipment, were not working well in Liberia, the WHO said.

     

     

     

    A street artist paints a mural informing people of the symptoms of Ebola in the Liberian capital Monrovia

    However, they appeared to be more effective in “areas of limited transmission” such as Nigeria and Senegal, it added.

    Local communities, especially those in rural areas, had been able to slow the transmission when they put in place their own protective measures, the WHO statement said.

    ‘Economic impact’

    Also on Monday, the African Union urged its member states to lift travel bans imposed to contain the virus, saying that the bans could hurt the region’s economy.

    “We must be careful not to introduce measures that may have more… social and economic impact than the disease itself,” commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said in quotes carried by AFP news agency.

    The current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%.

    Liberia has the highest number of reported cases and deaths, with more than 1,000 casualties so far.

    Hundreds have also died of the virus in Guinea and Sierra Leone.

    There have been at least eight deaths in Nigeria. One case has also been confirmed in Senegal but there have been no deaths so far.

     

  • Putting out the fire of Ebola

    SIR: Since February, death toll from the recent Ebola epidemic has soared over 1, 000, making it the most deadly outbreak of Ebola in history since the discovery of the disease in 1976 with simultaneous cases in Sudan and the Congo.

    Common symptoms of Ebola are fever, headache, weakness, cramps, aching in the muscles and joints, diarrhoea, vomiting, stomach pain, sore throat. As the disease progresses, additional symptoms may include rash, internal and external bleeding from the nose, mouth, ears and eyes, reduced liver and kidney function, trouble breathing, bruising.

    The working hypothesis for curtailing Ebola until the Liberian Patrick Sawyer came into the picture was that Ebola would more or less stay put, affecting only neighbouring countries.  The time from infection to severe illness is typically so fast that it is unlikely that a person would be able to get it together enough to go to airport– or else would be so obviously unwell as to draw attention to himself.

    Sawyer’s flight has changed all that. Until Sawyer’s death, all reported cases of Ebola had occurred in one of the three adjacent West Africa countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.

    Public health approaches remain the viable solution to Ebola curtailment. These are to be driven by government institutions and machineries but must be supported by responsible citizenship. With 198 Ebola cases in a nation of 150 million people, there is no need to panic but time for responsible citizenship by all. Public responsibility is paramount in curtailing this outbreak since it takes a man to infect a community.

    The President, the health minister, federal and state governments have shown commendable leadership towards curtailment of the outbreak. Highest level political meetings were held to devise effective strategies to manage the outbreak, rigorous screening at entry points were embarked upon, special funds provided, and several treatment and information centres established.

    Of special mention are the commendable efforts by Lagos State government to stem the spread.

    Despite the seriousness and notoriously incurable nature of the disease, preventing it spreading is relatively simple since only those who are symptomatic are contagious. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, it is important to wash one’s hands thoroughly with warm water and soap, or, if that is not available, a hand sanitizer.

    As advised by Stephen Monroe, deputy director of the Natural Centre for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, we should all be geared up for a ‘marathon than a sprint’ in curtailing the disease. Until we identify and interrupt every chain of transmission, we won’t be able to interrupt the outbreak. Until we get all the fires put out, there’s still a possibility that it will re-ignite.

    • Oluwaseun Oguntuase

    Ibereko, Badagry, Lagos

     

  • ‘Our Girls’; Lessons from Ebola: Wanted- ‘A UN Declaration on Expanded Role Of Media In Ignorance Elimination?’

    ‘Our Girls’; Lessons from Ebola: Wanted- ‘A UN Declaration on Expanded Role Of Media In Ignorance Elimination?’

    Our Girls’ are still in captivity since April 15.

    Cholera has just killed 16 Nigerians, more than the ‘deadly’ Ebola. ‘Boko Haram, Typhoid and Delivery’, having a baby, each kill thousands annually. Fortunately, Cholera and Typhoid will be reduced by the hand washing and hygiene and reduced contact strategies against Ebola. As we look to ‘Life after Ebola’ as it winds down in Nigeria hopefully, we commemorate the dedicated and courageous Dr Ameyo Adadevoh and prayerfully remember all other professional victims.

    What is Nigeria’s ‘Post Ebola Preventive Medicine Policy/Strategy’ at government, ministry of information/health and media levels? Nigeria needs larger ‘Medical Research Council Funding’. Google South Africa’s Medical Research Council. If not, all will go quiet until the next crisis while the internationally donated money, $200m, disappears like the military budget. Language and Communication Arts and Social Science departments in universities must study the role of the media in the Ebola episode. The importance of the media has come to the fore. Nigerians swim in a sea of ‘IGNORANCE’ about things that will keep them alive while being overloaded with adverts ‘educating’ them about products they can survive without. Ebola taught us to share ‘Life Skill Information’.

    It has come to pass. What? The massive media participation in preventive medicine involving government and private sector corporate adverts along with the engagement of officials and celebrities. For me this is long awaited triumph and a vindication of the position of Educare Trust on the media! So much airtime is wasted daily. The media has been woken to its responsibility to ‘Educate and Inform’ and become unselfish, helping to keep Nigerians informed and alive through ‘Ebola Info’. Usually the media only ‘advertises’ prepaid products, not ‘unsponsored’ messages. The world needs a plan of action towards ‘Ignorance Elimination’ – a greater killer than Ebola!  What we have been preaching as a ‘Public And Private Media Policy And Strategy’ for 20 years has come to pass but it must not pass away with Ebola, only to be revived for ‘Alobe’. Education must be continuous to fight the contagious.

    Our people suffer from a disease ‘IGNORANCE’, ‘Ignorance About Life Skills’. Ignorance is not the preserve of the uneducated. The educated are also ignorant. These ‘Life Skills’ are not taught in schools or out of school. Only the media parts, the electronic, print and advertising, are equipped to ‘Eliminate Ignorance’ in our citizenry. Before Ebola, the media was negligent and selfish in executing that responsibility and ignorance has spread like Ebola. The media elements face a negligence charge for only doing things for money under the ‘increase internally generated revenue’ order. For example Cholera and Typhoid kills thousands more than Ebola but when last did you see or hear any message/ advert about preventing Cholera or Typhoid? We like the sensational or terrifying and ignore the routine. But dealing with the routine with strategies like hand washing and sanitation, should prevent the sensational, like Ebola.

    Just as for Ebola, so for the media. The media needs to be taught or ordered to use its power to eliminate the disease ignorance by allocating a specific quantity of airtime or page space for ‘free’  ‘LIFE SKILL MESSAGES’ to keep its customers alive to consume more. There is also a ‘secret message weapon’ that is little used but gets into every home and office, rich and poor. It is the $500 billion corporate advertising space on billions of items moved in packaging and adverts governed by advertising gurus. Criticise every empty space on a bottle, bag, and box as being wasted and can be used in the ‘Ignorance Elimination War’. That space can be offered by the corporate world to WHO, UNICEF for the top 100 life skill messages and to local advert needs, at no extra charge. Such messages can be on anything from bullying, sexual violence to healthy eating. This Ebola epidemic forces us to demand that the UN, WHO etcetera, partner with the corporate world for joint messaging through a ‘New World Order In The Media’. ‘Life Skill Messaging’ on corporate advertising on products and product packaging will prevent citizens dying from ignorance and keep them alive to buy products longer.

    We want A UNITED NATIONS DECLARATION ON THE EXPANDED ROLE OF THE MEDIA in the 21st Century as follows:

    ‘We the People of the World need

    A UN World Media Social Responsibility Law for every media outlet to ‘include in every 24 hours of broadcasting 15 minutes up to one FREE HOUR of 15-120  messages of 30-60 seconds each per day on chosen Social Life Skill Messages to bring about behavioural change in society’. The UN should recommend this LAW to the world

    A ‘PRINT MEDIA SOCIAL MESSAGE LAW’ mandating that every company should also ‘INCLUDE A SOCIAL/MEDICAL MESSAGE IN EVERY SINGLE ADVERT’ in the media –on air, in the press, posters and billboards, packaging.

    Competitive Awards For The Best Corporate/Media Social Life-skill Message Partnership under the slogan –‘Helping Keep Citizens Alive’ at all the different International and National Annual Media, Advertising and CSR Awards and film and TV and cartoon Awards worldwide.

    The UN should convene a Meeting of the Global Fund and include Corporate Giants and Advertising Agency Gurus to kick-start this new initiative that Ebola has exposed as necessary and present to the world the annual top 100 Life Saving Messages for the media and advertisers to use.