As seen in the Frontline documentary watched in class, the Ebola outbreak caused a mass panic in African society. There were an estimated 28,000 cases in West Africa, with over 11,000 deaths resulting. As talked about in the documentary, there were many things that led to the spreading of the virus. In hindsight, I believe there were equally as many ways in which this spreading could have been prevented. Let’s talk about a couple of the ways the virus spread, and from here seek to argue the root of the problem and a course of action for prevention.
First, scientists believe that a major contributor to the spreading of the virus was due to young children playing with bats. Allegedly, a child named Emile Ouamouno was reported to have been one of the original victims of Ebola. After his death, his mother, sister, and grandmother all died after falling ill from similar symptoms. Ebola flew under the radar as the cause of these deaths for a substantial amount of time before realizing it was the cause, for the Center for Disease Control (CDC) did not acknowledge West Africa as being a region prone to Ebola as a threat. This brings up my first point of contention: if the CDC had figured out sooner and been more involved in the outbreak’s earlier stages, an exponential number of deaths could have been prevented.
It is important to understand the counterpoint to this argument, however. The CDC is not an omniscient entity in which they can be everywhere at once and stop any world danger. By the time they were aware that it was Ebola, it was far too late and they had no other option but to take the damage control route. In situations that carry such grave consequences, it is easy for society to pick a scapegoat to blame the entire thing on. There is not one group, person, or reason as to why the Ebola crisis was handled so poorly, but rather it was a combination. Another way this disease spread so extensively was from the native death rituals performed.
In many West African villages, their death rituals at funerals include intimately handling the body before laying it to rest. Ebola, a highly contagious disease, is one that is transmitted through bodily contact. To say that these death rituals were less than ideal for the circumstances at hand would be an understatement. The virus spreading through funeral tradition is a product of the lack of education due to poverty in these communities. If the people of these communities knew the toxicity of touching a dead body, they probably would have a safer way of handling this process. To get to the root of this problem, there must be something done to improve African education. Once education improves, West African quality of life will follow suit and improve with it. Again, this is an easier said than done application. But these are the steps African nations are going to need to take to put their citizens in a better position of health and safety in future events. Through better education and decreasing poverty, West African nations can put themselves at more of a likelihood to withstand adverse health hazards for generations to come.
I totally agree with you Dan. I think a solution to the problems you present would be something like Bill Gates suggested in his TED Talk about setting up a system, or department, dedicated to disease detection, prevention, and education in the form of educated doctors and specialists trained for situations like this and ready to go at any moment. He also mentioned putting more doctors in areas like this that are more likely to be the birthplace of such a disease to be able to prevent it sooner. This doctor would also be able to develop trusting relationships with the people, which would help to get the information to them about the state of the disease and what they can do to prevent it.
ReplyDeleteGreat points and an accurate diagnosis of the issues!
Dan, great ideas!! I totally agree with you that the CDC cannot be everywhere at once and this is something people fail to recognize. Diseases are difficult things to control and predict, so once an outbreak occurs we need to be prepared to handle what is going on. Similar to what Kelly suggested, we need to have in place trainings and be prepared to deal with these situations because often times it is developing countries without resources that are hit by epidemics. Developed countries need to have program like FEMA instated to send immediate help to these countries instead of waiting months to provide relief to the countries and people affected.
ReplyDeleteDan, great blog. I liked how you wrote about how the CDC cannot be everyone at once and that there needs to be more institutions in place to deal with these outbreaks especially in an area like Africa which is prone to these viruses. Also I liked how you showed how it was a multitude of factors that caused the spread of the disease not just kids eating bats.
ReplyDeleteDan! I think its totally important to notice how it wasn't very possible to identify the virus until it was too late. I think it being ebola was a very unfortunate circumstance (obviously) because it is difficult to ask a group of people to change their rituals because it is a part of their culture. My opinion on the topic is that it may be impossible to prevent an outbreak, just possible to identify and control it faster. Love your take on this. See you at Thanksgiving! I'll bring the stuffing. Chase.
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