Okay, I am going to rant a while about the Ebola Virus, how
it is affecting West Africa in general and Sierra Leone specifically , so grab
a cup of coffee and have a seat.
Disclaimer: All of this is my own opinion and I am not a
doctor, virologist, epidemiologist, anthropologist, or that requires more than
4 years of University. I have lived in Sierra Leone and have not left West
Africa since mid 2012. Also my ideas are
not original. I am not going to give footnotes but just know that I borrow good
sense from other people from time to time. Taking things from one source is plagiarism;
taking things from several sources is research.
Question: Why is this current outbreak of Ebola so bad?
Answer: Transportation, Behavior, Slow/Bad Response.
Transportation: We have some very bad roads in West Africa,
however they are getting better than ever (at least in Sierra Leone). Other
Ebola outbreaks in the past have occurred in remote, hard to reach villages
where a part of the village died off but the virus could not spread far infected
people couldn't easily travel far. Now
you can travel from Guinea, to Port Loko, To Makeni, To Kenema, To Kailahun to
Freetown all in less time than it takes to begin to present symptoms of EVD. As
a result it is possible for EVD to spread across the map rapidly.
Behavior: Behavior
has not changed here, especially among the uneducated or undereducated. I see
it every single day. Behaviors like, body contact, walking hand in hand,
shaking hands, eating from communal bowls with hands, hugging, kissing, more
importantly funeral rites involving ceremonial washing, drinking of said water,
home treatment of the ill, hiding of ill family members, mistrust of government
and medical workers, are still going on. Until behavioral changes take place,
or an effective virus is implemented Ebola will be around.
The governments, the international community, NGOs all of us
where too slow to respond to this particular outbreak. Even now there is far
more that can be done in the region to stop this virus. If we are honest we
were all several months to late before anyone took serious steps against EVD.
Now there is a mad rush to win a fight against an enemy that cannot be seen (except by some very high tech laboratories). As in some grass roots revolution or guerrilla
war, people with no former experience in infectious diseases or any
medical experience have joined the fight. Soldiers,
child protection agencies, various non medical charities, traditional chiefs,
community leaders, and yes even I have gotten involved in my own way. It is a
fight that must be won, but it is an uphill battle.
When will Ebola be finished. I am asked this question
regularly, as if I know. What I want to say is, EVD will be finished many
months after and not before we change dangerous behaviors region wide and especially
in Sierra Leone, treated or (God forbid) let nature take its course for all
existing cases without allowing for further transmissions/reproduction, and got
serious about our response. Instead I just shrug my shoulders and say, only God
knows.
Good morning how are you?
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emilio, I am a Spanish boy and I live in a town near to Madrid. I am a very interested person in knowing things so different as the culture, the way of life of the inhabitants of our planet, the fauna, the flora, and the landscapes of all the countries of the world etc. in summary, I am a person that enjoys traveling, learning and respecting people's diversity from all over the world.
I would love to travel and meet in person all the aspects above mentioned, but unfortunately as this is very expensive and my purchasing power is quite small, so I devised a way to travel with the imagination in every corner of our planet. A few years ago I started a collection of used stamps because trough them, you can see pictures about fauna, flora, monuments, landscapes etc. from all the countries. As every day is more and more difficult to get stamps, some years ago I started a new collection in order to get traditional letters addressed to me in which my goal was to get at least 1 letter from each country in the world. This modest goal is feasible to reach in the most part of countries, but unfortunately it’s impossible to achieve in other various territories for several reasons, either because they are countries at war, either because they are countries with extreme poverty or because for whatever reason the postal system is not functioning properly.
For all this I would ask you one small favor:
Would you be so kind as to send me a letter by traditional mail from Sierra Leone? I understand perfectly that you think that your blog is not the appropriate place to ask this, and even, is very probably that you ignore my letter, but I would call your attention to the difficulty involved in getting a letter from that country, and also I don’t know anyone neither where to write in Sierra Leone in order to increase my collection. a letter for me is like a little souvenir, like if I have had visited that territory with my imagination and at same time, the arrival of the letters from a country is a sign of peace and normality and an original way to promote a country in the world. My postal address is the following one:
Emilio Fernandez Esteban
Calle Valencia, 39
28903 Getafe (Madrid)
Spain
If you wish, you can visit my blog www.cartasenmibuzon.blogspot.com where you can see the pictures of all the letters that I have received from whole World.
Finally I would like to thank the attention given to this letter, and whether you can help me or not, I send my best wishes for peace, health and happiness for you, your family and all your dear beings.
Yours Sincerely
Emilio Fernandez