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.
“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
