Co-chair of the G7 Investment Initiative on Global Health, Dr Ayoade Olatubosun-Alakija, has warned that Nigeria is already behind in its response to the reported Ebola case, describing the subsequent two weeks as essential to figuring out whether or not the virus has unfold past the recognized affected person.
Speaking throughout an interview with ARISE News on Friday, Olatubosun-Alakija raised issues about delayed analysis, potential publicity amongst healthcare staff and different contacts, and the nation’s preparedness to comprise additional transmission.
She additionally warned that the pressure concerned in the present outbreak had a mortality fee of 48 per cent and claimed that no vaccine or therapy was obtainable for it.
“So we are already a little bit behind the curveball, which is why I’m saying that healthcare facilities and the country need to be on the lookout,” she stated.
“There is no vaccine and there is no treatment. That is a critical point that the people must know. We are dealing with a virus strain that has a mortality rate of 48% for which no treatment and no vaccine currently exists, whether African-made or otherwise.”
The well being professional urged the Federal Government to accentuate illness surveillance, strengthen public consciousness and make sure that suspected instances have been reported promptly by healthcare suppliers.
She stated Nigerians ought to take preventive measures severely with out ready for fatalities to happen.
“Well, we need mass education campaigns and we don’t need to wait till we see people dying for us to take it seriously,” she said.
Olatubosun-Alakija cited the Democratic Republic of the Congo for instance of how an Ebola outbreak might escalate if transmission was not contained early.
“They also started with one case, don’t worry. They started with one case and today they have almost 10,000 cases. Today they have 4,500, almost 4,600 people dead. So it is extremely serious,” she stated.
She burdened that the authorities and residents should cooperate to forestall wider transmission.
“It always begins with one and that is why it is critical that the government and the people of Nigeria work hand in hand with the government at all levels to ensure that we do not have wider spread. Yes, don’t panic, but also don’t be complacent.”
Addressing the circumstances surrounding the reported index case in Nigeria, Olatubosun-Alakija stated roughly two weeks elapsed between the affected person’s arrival in the nation and analysis.
“I think we need to understand that, you know, between this case arriving in Nigeria and diagnosis was about two weeks,” she stated.
“Ours was not diagnosed because the authorities were not notified immediately and that goes back to what you’re saying as to are we mentally ready.”
She argued that the delay highlighted the want for higher vigilance amongst personal hospitals, clinics and different healthcare amenities, notably when sufferers introduced with signs that may very well be mistaken for malaria.
“Private hospitals, clinics, all healthcare providers need to begin to understand that if somebody presents with symptoms of a fever, vomiting, what might look like malaria, that they have to immediately notify authorities and say that this is a potential case of Ebola,” she stated.
The well being professional additionally questioned whether or not healthcare amenities had enough private protecting tools to safeguard medical staff dealing with suspected infections.
“Now, do our healthcare facilities have the necessary PPE? We need to begin to prepare at that sort of level,” she added.
Olatubosun-Alakija expressed concern that individuals who had interacted with the affected person earlier than analysis might have moved by totally different communities, doubtlessly creating extra alternatives for publicity.
“If you think that every nurse, every doctor, every cleaner, everybody in those hospitals in those two weeks before she was diagnosed, have all gone home to their children. They’ve gone home to their wives, to their husbands,” she stated.
“They’ve all gone to church. They’ve gone to the market. They’ve perhaps gone to the mosque. They’ve perhaps gone to the village.”
She maintained that contact tracing wanted to increase past those that had straight interacted with the affected person to establish potential chains of transmission.
“So if you begin to cast the net wide, you know, you begin to see that there are very many different points where this could have touched people before we luckily were notified, the government was notified on the 19th and very quickly were able to make a diagnosis by the 20th,” she stated.
According to her, the outcomes of testing and monitoring individuals who had been in touch with the affected person could be essential in figuring out the extent of any potential unfold.
“The next two weeks are going to be critical. Once those who are close to the index case, patient zero, once they’re tested and we know who is positive and who is not, and therefore we begin to multiply out. It is a game right now of chess,” she stated.
The well being professional additionally urged warning over massive gatherings, notably as Nigeria approached a political season involving rallies and different public occasions.
Asked about the authorities’s place on gatherings, she declined to straight problem the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, acknowledging that he may need entry to extra info.
“It is not for me to agree or to disagree with the Coordinating Minister’s stance. He obviously has more information to hand. I would urge caution. That would be my approach,” she stated.
Beyond the fast public well being response, Olatubosun-Alakija referred to as for elevated African funding in vaccine analysis, diagnostic growth and pharmaceutical manufacturing.
She argued that insufficient funding in ailments traditionally concentrated in poorer areas had contributed to gaps in obtainable medical countermeasures.
“A large reason why they don’t exist is because Ebola has typically in the past only affected people in poor parts of Africa, poor parts of the world. So there hasn’t been the desire or the motivation to invest in the research and development needed,” she stated.
“Now, this is a huge wake-up call for us in Africa to invest in our own manufacturing, to invest in our own vaccine development, to invest in our own diagnostics development.”
She stated diagnostic checks have been being developed in Dakar, Senegal, however maintained that checks particularly wanted for the pressure beneath dialogue weren’t but obtainable.
Olatubosun-Alakija concluded by urging Nigerians to keep away from politicising the public well being response and to adjust to steerage issued by medical authorities.
“Don’t politicise it. When the government says we have a case or we have cases, we follow the guidance and we follow the advice,” she stated.
Her warnings about the reported index case, the pressure’s mortality fee and the availability of vaccines, remedies and diagnostic checks mirror her statements throughout the interview; the equipped account doesn’t embody impartial laboratory findings or official affirmation of these particulars.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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