Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Circumstances for CHANGE; Era of the Deadly Ebola Virus in Liberia


As I sit to write, my memory refreshed, I look back to the recent journey traveled through rural communities of Grand Bassa and Rural Montserrado. I am still struggling to catch up on what is really happening around me. I feel like I am dreaming, but the clamor and confusions wouldn’t allow me to stay much longer – if this was a true dream, I wish I could never fall asleep again! This, unfortunately, is a reality that is currently affecting the lives of thousands already across Liberia in “the Era of the Deadly Ebola Virus”.
Ebola is an infectious and often fatal disease that results in fever and severe internal bleeding. There are no medications effective in curing the virus, but supportive hospital care can significantly increase survival.
The Ebola crisis began in a small Town in part of Lofa County, and seemingly effortlessly managed to take over some of our major and most populated cities – Monrovia and Buchanan, taking a toll on both economic and social activities as well as affecting families and destroying communities. These two counties have a combined population of 1,339,934, mostly concentrated in the main cities, which have been hit harder.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) recently predicted, Liberia would suffer more cases of infections over the coming 2 to 3 weeks, if not longer, depending on the state of interventions. If we consider all of the five counties currently in the wake of the looming Virus, the current total population endangered can be put at about 1,922,148 (including Montserrado, Bomi, Rivercess, Margibi Grand Bassa and Lofa Counties). This is almost half of our country’s total population, with a high risk of further escalation to more bordering counties if nothing better than current interventions is done.

If you ask me about what the state of our society will be within the next weeks? My answer will be – “blood bath”; it will be more than what some journalists call it during serious battles, especially when two opposing forces are equally prepared to push back their opponents, either by defeat or destroy. The War against Ebola Virus in Liberia might get even worse than a “blood bath”; it might also improve; will be dependent on what mechanisms are been put in place as of today, whether our purpose is to curtail, endure  or defeat. It is not only me who think this way, working down the streets of Paynesville, the Fear of Ebola has added uncertainty, many are now recalling the worst period of the civil wars in Liberia, and wondering if this is not going to be as bad as the war. On 9th September, the UN Security Council regular briefing noted that Liberia is facing its greatest threat since its years-long conflict; “The speed and scale of the loss of lives, and the economic, social, political and security reverberations of the crisis, are affecting Liberia profoundly,” Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Karin Landgren, told the Council.

My assessment is based on recent visits to more than 10 communities in Rural Montserrado and Grand Bassa counties; views and comments from key stakeholders and citizens across these counties raises serious eyebrows and more uncertainties. Base on glairing facts; I would like to note that, the result of what happen over the coming days; whether what the World Health Organization says is going to happen or the US Center for Disease Control’s projections  becomes real, will depend on what measures the government will take after today.

 “The Government of Liberia will have to decide on putting effective mechanisms in place to fight the Ebola Virus or Tally and Trade Ebola Cases for more Millions”
Current reports show that the Virus is not drawing back, it is even rapidly spreading, especially in Liberia “The disease is spreading particularly quickly in Liberia, where WHO figures published Tuesday showed that more than 500 new cases were recorded in a week. The organization warned Monday that it expects thousands of new cases in the country in the coming weeks”.

In many parts of the counties visited, most of the citizens believe that there is a kind of disease been spoken about, but the majority are still cut off from the abilities to properly understand their roles in preventing the virus as well as the confidence to accept that this is a reality. Many people still live in denial and hopelessness, not only because they want to just ignore the reality, but because many of them don’t see the difference between this and acceptance from just living through the threats – the lack of coordinated response, coupled with misinformation and stigmatization, has complicated the likelihood of change.

With this State of Emergency, and while in a nearby village in Bensonville called Low Cost, two suspected Ebola deaths are reported - the Bentol Government Hospital was almost closed during my visit, on 6th September; as I drove and stopped by, only one midwife and a nurse was on duty; I was told everybody has gone to Monrovia for weekend - likewise Careysburg Hospital, both Cities don't have any mechanism in place to fight Ebola. In Careysburg, a private citizen, Benoni Urey is supporting efforts; I met with a group of young people from Lower Careysburg, (Gomoshu) who assembled at one popular entertainment center hoping that Mr. Urey would drive by. In Bentol City, unlike Careysburg, citizens will have to wait for God to COME DOWN...!!!! NONE of them, TODEE, BENTOL, or CAREYSBURG have a Task Force or local social mobilization mechanism or even has any informed coordination with Central authorities - in any case of a serious-outbreak - a response will have to come from MONROVIA 

In Grand Bassa County, during similar visits earlier, i saw a County Task Force Hosted by the County Superintendent; and supervised by a staff of the National Red Cross in Bassa. This Task Force has a Social mobilization Committee which was supposed to be the arm responsible for community sensitization and awareness-raising. On the contrary, due to lack of proper coordination and saggy approach, the Social mobilization committee which is much closer to the reality is almost completely disoriented from the main County Task Force. I saw members of the Committee brainstorming during one of my visits on how to raise funds within their individual organizations to carry out propose interventions. Whilst at the level of the main Task Force, over 115,000.00 USD has been provided by the county caucus to be use by the Task Force to carry out its activities (including Social Mobilization). Arcelor Mittal Liberia, one of the leading companies in Grand Bassa, provided about $5000.00 USD to the same Task Force; but still, while talking with one of the County Health Officers, he told me that the volunteers they recruited to carryout removal and burial of suspected Ebola victims have almost all turn their back on duties because of lack of compensation or adequate logistics to carry out their functions. The Ministry of Health is part of the Task Force but don’t have a proper collection of how resources generated for the Task Force are used. One of my colleagues even told me that Grand Bassa is a politically charged county and in times like this, politicians are not the right persons to be in charge of resources administration. 
One Sanitizing Bucket for 1000 villagers

In Rural Montserrado, most of the Towns are still struggling to inform their inhabitants about the danger; most of them don’t even have the means to acquire the preventive resources, like sanitizing buckets and soap; and they remain without knowing what should be the first thing they could do in the wake of abrupt outbreak, since there are no known local response mechanism that they can access immediately except for a Task Force that is based in Monrovia. In Goyah’s Town for example; the villager will have to walk to the Town Chief’s house to wash their hands to prevent Ebola, because he is the only person who has a sanitizing bucket and is able to refill it with Soap dust and chlorine.

At the National Level; I am not sure how or what calculations was used in determining who forms a Task Force; however, every response in Monrovia for an Ebola Case takes between 15 hours to 3 days. If you call the government’s Hotline, you will be require to only sit and wait, for maybe a call or arrival of a Task Force marked vehicle. The National Task Force as it stands, remains a Monrovia based Response Team; there is No countywide or community level liaison or capacity to response in time. In some counties, you will only find a medical Team for Examination purposes and a Burial Team; No mechanism for prevention and social mobilization; even to talk about contact tracing.

Victims on the floor for hours at Treatment Center waiting for admission
Five months into the epidemic, with the new World Health Organization belief of 20,000 potential Ebola cases expected in the region; the Liberia’s health care expenditures has risen tremendously, accounting for 25 percent of the government’s annual budget because of Ebola, instead of 8 percent as projected earlier, according to the country’s finance minister. The big question that got many wondering is; where and what is the monies been spent on? From all indications; even with a said Task Force in place, it is not clear who is responsible for what and why monies are been spent. Almost all major key ministries and other functional entities in the country are said to be running their individual Ebola campaigns with no significant mechanism to track effectiveness.

As a youth leader and social development advocate, I am relentless; I believe we all have a stake in this fight and that’s why we must not draw back, but stand tall and join the fight from different angles. I realize that by providing some conscious awareness like this of the unspeakable realities and shortcomings; and advancing good recommendations are some of the ways I can help key stakeholders do their Job differently. 

We have to Win this War and we must – to achieve this, will depend on what those responsible for the major Tasks, key institutions at the helm of expenditures, regulation and coordination of operations (the National Ebola Task-force, Call Center at the General Services Agency and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, the Ministry of Finance, Internal Affairs); plans to do within the coming “Three Desperate, most Deadly Weeks ahead”. Maybe or not, we need to declare another Emergency, I am not sure what it should be called - I foresee the government taking a monitoring role; leaving day-to-day operations and management of Ebola resources in the hands of trusted International Agencies, in consultation with National Task Force, other medical experts and local technocrats, divorce from political influence.

The Publisher is a Young Peace Ambassador, One Young World Ambassador, Community Solutions Fellow; a committed, grass root, youth and community development advocate, has been working and inspiring change among and for children and youth since 2004. He can be contacted Via Email: onedream.lib@gmail.com/ Skype: one-dream.lib / Twitter: @teeman101  

No comments:

Post a Comment