Rightly, a growing number of people are asking questions surrounding Botswana’s preparedness in case there was Ebola outbreak. It would seem like while all countries are moving towards sharing more information the same cannot be said about southern Africa, including, unfortunately, Botswana. Experience from elsewhere has shown that the devastation by Ebola is most pervasive when insufficient resources have been mobilized and deployed before time as part of both prevention and preparedness.
And as is so clear from what is happening in West Africa, that devastation is even more pronounced in countries with fragile and less elaborate health infrastructure. Everyday world health experts tell us that Ebola outbreak will get worse before it gets any better. They tell us that Africa will remain the outbreak’s epicenter. And given the state of the continent’s weak health infrastructure, made worse by unhelpful social and cultural behaviours it is almost a given that during that time it will be chaos. Ebola is a now serious global concern. It has reached a number of overseas countries including Spain, United States and increasingly there are fears that United Kingdom is well on line to being the next.
The disease has killed well over 4000 in Africa alone. And experts are saying the number of those affected doubles every 4-6 weeks. As we speak it is ravaging West Africa. The cost to human life is now a clear catastrophe. And it will be many years before we know the real costs in economic terms. Countries like Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are clamouring for resources to help fight the outbreak. Few such resources are being pledged and even fewer are being delivered. Coordination of whatever resources are on the ground is a challenge. And in the meantime it is reversing whatever gains those countries had made, especially as they were just emerging from civil wars and other forms of civil strife. Not for the first time we find ourselves calling on authorities in Botswana that more should be done to prepare for a possible outbreak. This is against increased regularity of warnings from experts that Ebola is most likely going to spread from West Africa and also into the east and southern parts of the continent.
We agree with those that say the best way to contain Ebola from spreading is by deploying more resources in West Africa as a way of stopping new infections. We also want to add that countries that deploy resources towards preparedness are those that will be least affect in the event of an outbreak. As we speak it is not clear which hospitals and how many of those health facilities in Botswana are we preparing to set aside and dedicate to treatment of Ebola in case of an outbreak. Concerns have so far been expressed on protective clothing, including in more developed countries where such concerns should ordinarily not be an issue.
The same concerns have also been expressed surrounding protocols including screening at treatment facilities, but also at airports. It would be helpful if our authorities could be more upfront is sharing information, not on a need to know basis, but rather as a way of reassuring the public but also allaying fears that what we are seeing in West Africa could possibly happen in Botswana.
