• North West: Stakeholders gird loins To Fight Ebola

By Ngah Benjamin

                   The Ebola virus which is recently creating fears and sending shockwave down the spine of many a Cameroonian was at the centre of a meeting convened by the Governor of the North West Region and the Conference Hall of his up station office on Thursday 14^th August 2014.

                 The meeting aimed at presenting an emergency plan for the region was attended by health experts, Divisional officers, the Government Delegate to the Bamenda City Council amongst others. Presiding over the meet, the governor called on stakeholders to take the threats of Ebola seriously considering the fact that the virus is already in Nigeria and the North West Region shares one of the longest borders with her. According to him, the North West must close its doors to the virus by being vigilant and marking sure that people from Ebola declared countries are thoroughly checked before giving access into the region.

               The Regional Delegate for Public health, Dr. Ndiforchu Victor in his presentation declared that contrary to rumours about Ebola cases in the region, no case has been detected yet. He however cautioned that the population must be educated on the need to respect certain hygienic condition to avoid the epidemic from invading the region.

             The Ebola virus, he cautioned is transmitted through any form of body fluid. The only way to avoid it is to avoid getting in contact with an infected person. Common greetings, embrace and the manipulation of any liquid of an infected person can easily transmit Ebola. Other vectors include the manipulation of dead animals, eating of bat and other food items that might have been touched by the Ebola patient.

             Ndiforchu also dished out lessons to some of the stakeholders on the symptoms of Ebola which include running stomach, bleeding and severe fever. Although these are common symptoms to many other diseases, Dr. Ndiforchu said at this moment when the country is on the red alert, anybody who witnesses the symptoms must alert health officials for thorough checks.

              In a separate development, the recent case of cholera epidemic declared in the Northern part of the country was a cause for concern.  81 fatalities have been recorded in the northern region of Cameroon representing a 4.9% death rate which is a cause for alarm considering the fact that some few years back, certain localities of the region were also affected by the cholera epidemic. To this, the population was called upon to respect common hygiene principle and not to manipulate corpses in case during funerals.

One thing which is obvious is the fact that the response to the threat of Ebola from neighbouring Nigeria in the region and the country as a whole has been timid and lacks steam. A greater part of the population especially those in border towns like Ako, Sbongari and nwa are not well informed. Probably this explains why it was disclosed at the meeting that a massive media campaign plan would be put in place in the coming days to better sensitize the population on the dangers of Ebola and cholera.