Ebola disaster
Dear Sir,
Things are going from bad to worse in Ebola-affected countries and the global community remains in a state of panic as very little is being done to control the worst outbreak of modern century.
Nearly 5,000 people have lost their lives and several thousand remain affected.
Oxfam, a globally-renowned aid and development charity, has warned that Ebola could become the “definitive humanitarian disaster of our generation” if more is not done to halt the spread of the virus.
Oxfam, which works in the two worst-hit countries – Liberia and Sierra Leone – wants more troops, funding and medical staff to be sent to west Africa to help tackle the epidemic there.
In a recent statement World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim has warned that the world community is losing the battle against Ebola in West Africa. And the World Health Organisation (WHO) fears that the rate of Ebola infections could reach 10,000 a week within two months.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has appealed twice for funds to control the Ebola spread in affected countries. The Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) group has urged health workers and doctors to serve in the affected area.
But health workers are at high risk; a few of them have already lost their lives because of poor safety standard in the affected places. Poor medical facilities and shortage of health workers and doctors are the main challenges in the Ebola-hit countries.
In Liberia, for instance, only 1,100 doctors are available for the entire population.
Some countries have imposed travel ban on affected countries and several others have closed their borders with them. This proves counterproductive because health workers and doctors find it hard to travel to the affected areas.
No approved vaccine or medicine is available for Ebola yet. Experimental vaccines and treatments are under development, but they have not yet been fully tested for safety or effectiveness, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Countries spend millions of dollars on campaigns against unseen enemies, on research into Star Wars and on Mars missions but have no funds to help West Africa to tackle its health crisis. It is a shame really.
Khawaja Umer Farooq
[email protected]
