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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
 Posted - 01 Sep 2014 : 15:53:16
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Good thinking by The director of Health Promotion and Education, Modou Njai,his advisors and staff an practical and affordable recommendations to deal with the spread of Ebola.
Thanks to The Point for this report that will spread amongst the population of Gambia.
Health Ministry convenes emergency meeting on Ebola situation
africa » gambia
Monday, September 01, 2014
The director of Health Promotion and Education, Modou Njai has made its clear to the general public on national television that despite the fact that it part of our custom and culturehand-shaking should be stopped for meantime, as Gambia is in high alert.
He noted that initially people were advised to minimise hand-shaking, but as at now they should stop it for the time being as the situation is worrying in neighbouring countries.
Mr Njai was speaking to GRTS on Saturday following the recent outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in our neighbouring country Senegal.
The ministry of Health and Social Welfare convened an emergency meeting to discuss the outbreak of Ebola in Senegal, and one of the main agenda items of the meeting was to adopt a series of measures to strengthen the surveillance system in The Gambia, he said.
Mr Njai highlighted the state of readiness of The Gambia in the event of any eventuality.
He said currently the health personnel are currently monitoring the situation in Senegal, and that had prompted the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Hon. Omar Sey, to call on an emergency meeting to discuss on the situation in Senegal.
He said one of the outcomes of the meeting was to identify tasks to be done by people who have already been doing some of the those tasks, but they needed to change the strategy as they are now on high alert as a country, and based on that certain strategies needed to be reinforced and strengthened and one of them is the surveillance system, the case management and also the communication and social mobilisation which are very key.
He advised people to continue to look for signs and symptoms such as fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhea with or without blood and also blood coming from the ear, nose, other parts of their body, as well as high fever.
“This is what we want people to look for and report to the nearest health facility without delay, and this is what the ministry of health and social welfare are encouraging people to practice.
“People should not be worried; if they have any information, text messages have been sent to QCELL and AFRICELL, with the support of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and also the Gambia Tourism Board and their partners.
He said this is ongoing and the messages are there, and the telephone numbers are there for people to contact and they do not want people to panic.
He said currently there is no confirmed case of Ebola in the country, and there is no suspected case of Ebola as at now.
He also emphasised the need for people to stop hand-shaking for the meantime in the sense that they are on high alert because it is almost close to us.
“We don’t know who is who, and it is not safe to shake hands for the time being,” he said, and assured to update the public in any information received by the ministry of Health and Social Welfare.
Author: Abdoulie Nyockeh
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 01 Sep 2014 : 17:22:34
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More information from clever people from The Point's excellent research staff,Thanks:
Ongoing Ebola outbreak highlights research shortcomings
africa » gambia
Monday, September 01, 2014
As the deadly Ebola virus continues to strike West Africa, experts are calling for more research to help deal with future outbreaks and limit the chance of a pandemic.
Identifying where the virus responsible for the latest cases came from will be crucial for prevention efforts, but effective drugs and vaccines remain some way away, experts say.
“The spread of Ebola in a crowded modern mega-city, where the number of cases could balloon beyond our capacity to quarantine sufferers and test contacts, certainly represents a concern,” says Derek Gatherer, a researcher at Lancaster University in the United Kingdom.
“The worst-case scenario would be uncontained Ebola within a large city and people flying out of the city to other parts of the world,” says Gatherer, whose article, published in the Journal of General Virology last month (2 May), discusses a potential crisis scenario.
To avoid such a potential catastrophe, research efforts must continue, he says, highlighting work on anti-Ebola drugs and a vaccine.
A paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) last week for example, reported that a vaccine against the Ebola virus is both safe and capable of producing a robust immune response in chimpanzees.
But these new products must still go through full clinical trials, with no guarantee of success.
“I expect it will be a while before we see Ebola outbreaks being treated with drugs, or people in risk areas being vaccinated, but it is definitely on the horizon,” says Gatherer. “Until then, we just have to do what was done in Guinea: swamp the area with medical staff and use quarantine and tracing of contacts to suffocate transmission as quickly as possible.”
According to the WHO, a cumulative total of 291 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola haemorrhagic fever have occurred in Guinea since the start of the outbreak, including 193 deaths. Some 50 cases have also been reported in Sierra Leone and one suspected case in Liberia.
A study published in PLOS Currents: Outbreaks last month (2 May) says the most likely culprit for the Guinea outbreaks is an Ebola virus lineage that has previously struck in Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Gabon.
“We do not think that this particular lineage was present in West Africa about a decade ago,” says Gytis Dudas, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, and the lead author of the study.
The important question facing scientists is how this virus reached West Africa in the first place, because that will determine whether the region should prepare for another outbreak in the future or whether Ebola haemorrhagic fever will remain mostly a Central African problem, he tells SciDev.Net.
But understanding of the Ebola virus reservoir remains poor, Dudas says. This is because sequencing the extremely infectious virus is probably as dangerous as dealing with an outbreak itself, he says.
Source: Guest commentary by Tomislav MetroviSciDev.Net
“If you find diseases before they’ve really emerged, you can control them early on, before you get amajor epidemic.”
Nathan Wolfe
CLEVER PEOPLE LINKS:
http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/news/blogs/derek-gatherer/
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6200/989.summary?rss=1
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=Gytis+Dudas&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=rcs&gfe_rd=cr&ei=hpEEVIzQKs6q8wfC64CgAQ
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/ongoing-ebola-outbreak-highlights-research-shortcomings-1 |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 01 Sep 2014 17:38:57 |
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Momodou
Denmark
11844 Posts |
Posted - 01 Sep 2014 : 18:32:06
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Ebola Facts
Last Updated: September 01, 2014 10:15 GMT
--Symptoms
Last Updated: September 01, 2014 10:16 GMT
Incubation period
The incubation period is the time between infection (when a person takes in the virus) and when they start to feel ill. For Ebola, the period can range from 2 to 21 days. However, on average, it is about 7-9 days.
Symptoms
Usually, the person suddenly feels weak, with a fever, muscle/joint pain, headache and sore throat. Vomiting, diarrhoea, rash and abdominal pain follow in most cases. Some people may develop redness of eyes and hiccups.
Organ failure and bleeding (both internally and externally) occur in some people. These lead to death. About 50% to 90% of cases are fatal. The Zaire strain is the most lethal strain of Ebola. It is responsible for the current Ebola outbreak.
 
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 03 Sep 2014 : 17:29:35
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Social welfare has cranked itself into ACTION.
Snippet:
"Campaign through SMS
Meanwhile, The Gambia’s Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has not been resting on its laurel with sensitisations being taken to another level. The Ministry engages mobile phone company operators in the country to spread prevention messages about Ebola through text messages.
“Ebola is deadly and has no cure. Avoid shaking hands, contacts with infected persons/dead bodies and wash hands regularly. Keep Gambia Ebola-Free,” read a text message sent from a Qcell line.
With the level of campaigns going on at all levels, it is hoped that if people utilise the messages and take preventive measures on their part, The Gambia could be spared. Even though authorities are doing their best to prevent it, however, complacency is not the watchword and must be avoided because the disease is calamitous."
http://observer.gm/africa/gambia/article/ebola-free-gambia-campaign-takes-to-social-media-sms |
"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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rassimian
United Kingdom
168 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2014 : 12:48:50
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| It is good that the Gambian Government has started a campaign to educate and hopefully protect its citizens with regard to Ebola. However the reality is somewhat more complex than having people avoid shaking hands. Diagnosing Ebola is difficult because early symptoms such as red eyes, headache,sore throat and rashes are common.Ebola infections can only be diagnosed definitively in the laboratory by 5 different tests. Such tests are an extreme biohazard risk and should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions. Within the Gambia it is likely that the only organisation capable of confirming and dealing with an outbreak of Ebola would be the M.R.C. and I have not heard or read anything about their capability to deal with that event. Already more than 2000 people have died from contracting Ebola. Cross border migration by many thousands of people is a daily occurence and policing those borders looking for people with 'symptoms' of Ebola is an extremely difficult task so it is highly likely that at some point in time Ebola will enter the Gambia. |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 12 Sep 2014 : 13:27:29
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MRC has been silent ,true, I think it is most likely that behind the scenes close contact with the WHO is in place.
quote:
Originally posted by rassimian
It is good that the Gambian Government has started a campaign to educate and hopefully protect its citizens with regard to Ebola. However the reality is somewhat more complex than having people avoid shaking hands. Diagnosing Ebola is difficult because early symptoms such as red eyes, headache,sore throat and rashes are common.Ebola infections can only be diagnosed definitively in the laboratory by 5 different tests. Such tests are an extreme biohazard risk and should be conducted under maximum biological containment conditions. Within the Gambia it is likely that the only organisation capable of confirming and dealing with an outbreak of Ebola would be the M.R.C. and I have not heard or read anything about their capability to deal with that event. Already more than 2000 people have died from contracting Ebola. Cross border migration by many thousands of people is a daily occurence and policing those borders looking for people with 'symptoms' of Ebola is an extremely difficult task so it is highly likely that at some point in time Ebola will enter the Gambia.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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sab
United Kingdom
912 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2014 : 18:02:10
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Schools go back end of the month....Department of Education I believe has also been quiet. It would have been very apt to bring back all teachers to venue's throughtout the country and make sure they fully understand the nature and implications of the virus, ensuring the information is suitably given to student's depending on their age, when school's start there new term. In turn this would get to families that have no radio/television. You cannot say they have not been warned! |
The world would be a poorer place if it was peopled by children whose parents risked nothing in the cause of social justice, for fear of personal loss. (Joe Slovo - African revolutionary) |
Edited by - sab on 21 Sep 2014 18:05:17 |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2014 : 18:35:11
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Gambian administrations always seem to REACT to events rather than plan schemes to minimise or counteract probable bad foreseen eventualities.
The Point Newspaper has tried its hardest to decimate information to the public as the Ebola terror unfolds
quote:
Originally posted by sab
Schools go back end of the month....Department of Education I believe has also been quiet. It would have been very apt to bring back all teachers to venue's throughtout the country and make sure they fully understand the nature and implications of the virus, ensuring the information is suitably given to student's depending on their age, when school's start there new term. In turn this would get to families that have no radio/television. You cannot say they have not been warned!
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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sab
United Kingdom
912 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2014 : 18:57:28
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It is their duty to inform, they are a newspaper, but good on The Point. U know one of the hardest items for me to buy in The Gambia is Newspapers - A walk to Westfield at the right time or gele to Timbooktoo shop at Fajara. I stay in Latrikunda German. How about the majority that have to think twice about spending dalasis on newspaper even if they are able to read.
Radio/Television - in all languages & Education establishments are the must, it is very basic but unfortunately the attitude is too laid back
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The world would be a poorer place if it was peopled by children whose parents risked nothing in the cause of social justice, for fear of personal loss. (Joe Slovo - African revolutionary) |
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toubab1020
12314 Posts |
Posted - 21 Sep 2014 : 19:21:39
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"How about the majority that have to think twice about spending dalasis on newspaper even if they are able to read."
Very true SAB but don't forget Gambian hospitality and sharing, I personally know a man who gets given a newspaper by a better off friend ,he reads it and then passes it onto another friend,who returns it to the first man so that paper is read by at least three men,who tell their wives and families who then tell......... and so on, but that system although not ideal and is liable to lose some meaning and facts in it's transmission does reach a fair few people, if everyone had spare money instead of having to use for family survival more papers would be sold, lack of work and no available jobs then it follows no money, a problem for very many countries in Africa.
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"Simple is good" & I strongly dislike politics. You cannot defend the indefensible.
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Edited by - toubab1020 on 21 Sep 2014 19:23:47 |
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Ebola,Gambia recent developments.
