Following a rare show of leadership by all tiers of government in Nigeria, the country is today a reference point globally in the fight against the dreaded Ebola virus disease.
Minister of Health, Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu stated this in Abuja yesterday at the 2014 ministerial press briefing, one of the platforms where the Federal Government gives its stewardship to the citizens. According to the minister, as at March this year, Nigeria had no case of Ebola, but Nigerians, including government and the citizenry, contained the disease.
He, however, stated that government and the public should not rest in the vigilance and fight against the disease.
He said of how the battle against the virus was won: “The President directed me, the 36 states governors, including the FCT minister with their health commissioners, to be on red alert in case Ebola finds its way to the country.
“President Jonathan also met with them to ensure peer review so that states could emulate other best procedures in curbing Ebola.
“With the recent outbreak of the Ebola Virus disease, the Federal Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the states through the National Council on Health, has adequately contained further spread of the disease.”
The minister noted that as at yesterday, the total number of confirmed cases of the virus in the country remained 19, out of which 12 cases were discharged and seven died.
In addition to public and government determination to collectively fight the virus, Chukwu conveyed President Jonathan’s assurances to ensure the nation’s public health system was improved upon, while the ordinary citizens would easily access health care at affordable cost.
He maintained that through institutions such as the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, NCDC, the nation was poised to enjoying better health care services.
In the United States of America, a nurse infected with the virus, while treating the first patient diagnosed in the country has received a plasma transfusion from a doctor who survived the virus, as the death toll hits 4,447 yesterday.
Nurse Nina Pham was among about 70 staff members at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, according to medical records.
The 26-year-old nurse was in the Liberian man’s room often, from the day he was placed in intensive care until the day before he died last week.
Pham and other health care workers wore protective gear, including gowns, gloves, masks and face shields – and sometimes fullbody suits – when caring for Duncan, but she became the first person to contract the disease within the United States. Duncan died on Wednesday.
Health care workers, including Pham, were told to monitor themselves by taking their temperatures. She went to the hospital on Friday night after finding she had a fever.
The death toll from the Ebola virus outbreak has risen to 4,447, with the majority of victims in West Africa, the World Health Organisation, WHO, says.
WHO Assistant Director- General Bruce Aylward also said there could be up to 10,000 new cases a week within two months if efforts were not stepped up.
However, the rate of new infections in some areas has slowed down, he added.
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest- hit by the outbreak.
There have been 8,914 cases overall, including the fatal cases, and the WHO says it expects this number to top 9,000 by the end of the week.
The WHO estimates its figures by taking the numbers of confirmed cases and multiplying them – from Guinea by 1.5, from Sierra Leone by 2 and from Liberia by 2.5 – to account for under-reporting.
The US federal health officials say they are ramping up training for medical workers who deal with the infected
Source: National Mirror
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