Africa Focus: Africans urged to learn useful lessons from Ebola pandemic: report

A fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, Professor Vincent Pryde Kehdingha Titanji, has urged Africans to learn useful lessons from the Ebola Viral Disease (EVD) that has killed thousands in West Africa.

This was contained in the latest edition of "Science Policy Africa" published quarterly by the Nairobi-based African Academy of Sciences released here Thursday.

"Key lessons that Ebola offers is that science-based strategies can be effective in controlling the scourges that ravage Africa if concerted efforts that involve all stakeholders are instituted in a timely, coordinated and sustainable manner," Titanji said.

These, he said, include adherence to scientifically proven and ethically acceptable principles, sensitization and health education, timely mobilization and deployment of resources vis-à- vis human, material and logistic support.

Others are the active involvement of the affected communities, strong leadership, concerted action and synergies at all levels.

The World Health Organization (WHO)-Afro Region office names Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), malaria, respiratory infections, perinatal conditions and diarrhea as five top leading communicable diseases affecting the continent.

But Titanji, also a professor of Biotechnology, Honorary Dean and Former Vice-Chancellor at the University of Buea in Cameroon, said none of these diseases could be compared to Ebola's rate of spread among communities.

According to the World Bank, the estimated economic loss resulting from the current Ebola crises stands in excess of 32.6 billion U.S. dollars in the short and medium term, an amount that is way beyond the economic means of most countries at risk.

He commended the international community and particularly, countries like China, the United States, Britain and France for the assistance given to Ebola affected countries, saying: "Right actions can help in the long run."

The EVD, described as the greatest humanitarian crisis in Africa, affected and killed thousands of people in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia last year.

The WHO estimates that 21,296 people were infected with the EVD out of which 8,429 deaths were recorded mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Separate cases have also been registered in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, Britain and the United States.

Former head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER), Anthony Banbury, early this month after returning from a final review mission in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, said there had been significant progress in the fight against Ebola over the past 90 days.

The Ebola Viral Disease, previously known as the Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a severe illness in humans, often fatal, according to the WHO. The virus is passed on to people from wild animals and can be transmitted from humans to humans. The average EVD case death rate is some 50 percent.

No licensed treatment has yet been proven to be able to neutralize the virus but a number of blood, immunological and drug medications are under development. Endi