Ebola: Mission not accomplished
Shortly after Baghdad fell to American-led allied forces in the early stages of the Iraq war, President George Bush gave a triumphant speech on a United States (US) battleship, clad in military gear and with a banner above him declaring, “Mission Accomplished!” Fast forward a few more years, a decade hence, and the Iraq war still rages on, mutating into several poisonous strands, including the current iteration that subjects the world to a despicable beheading sideshow whenever the so called Islamic State (IS) demands attention.
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Anyone conversant with strategy – in its various forms – will tell you that, calling the end correctly is as important as any other element of a campaign. President Bush was not the first commander to be swayed by a coalition of the willing and the coerced into premature celebration. It is unlikely he will be the last, but he must serve as a cautionary tale to all involved in leadership, whether it be in the military, public service, or, corporate world. The lessons from that huge error must guide us as we tackle the public health challenge of the magnitude presented by the Ebola virus disease.
There are a few reasons why some might feel that the worst is over. As new infections – or the media coverage of them – have receded, so has the alarm. In Nigeria and Senegal, the outbreak has been officially declared defeated. Nigeria has come in for major commendation for the manner in which it tackled the disease. For countries like Ghana where no cases have been officially declared, the threat may seem even more distant, as the days go by with no downturn in our luck.
The strategy for victory against Ebola is quite certainly, unending vigilance, as the Malians found out at a high cost.
Following its first Ebola death, Mali traced all who had come in contact with the ‘carrier’ and placed them under quarantine. Three weeks later, it held a ceremony to mark not only the release of those under observation, but the end of the threat. The only thing missing was the “Mission Accomplished” banner. Sadly, in the wake of the celebration, several more people in Mali lost their lives to Ebola. This may not have happened if vigilance had been unrelenting.
In Ghana where there have been no (known) infections, there must be a sustained effort to keep it that way. In our current vulnerable position, the spectre of Ebola, placing lives at risk, weakening our public health systems even further, threatening businesses and mortally wounding our educational structures, can scarcely be imagined. We have a duty to take a cue from our neighbours who have not been so fortunate. In Guinea Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth projections for 2014 have been revised downwards from 4.5per cent to 2.4per cent; In Sierra Leone from 11.3per cent to 6.6per cent; and in Liberia, the forecast of 5.9per cent has now been revised to 1.0per cent. In 2015, Liberia's economy is not expected to grow at all!
We will continue to urge our public health officials to remain ready and vigilant. Those of us in the corporate world and the public advocacy institutions must also do all we can to keep Ebola in the minds of the general public. All offices and public spaces should carry educational material on the disease. Religious services should be able to devote a few minutes at each event to educate people about the disease. It should not put us off our ‘small chops’ if at our weddings, funerals and parties, the Master of Ceremonies has a few words of advice on the virus. When we face a threat this big, nothing is too much.
This is why I have led Dalex Finance and Leasing Company Limited, through the Ebola Education Fund and through the One Ghana United Against Ebola campaign, to commit to a large scale public education effort. We are putting information in the hands and minds of Ghanaians, with the sole purpose of ensuring that Ghana stays free of Ebola, open for business and focused on its many challenges without another, preventable one. When we do put up banners, it is to keep the fight going, rather than to announce a premature end.
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This is how we must fight. This is how we will win. This is why we cannot afford complacency. It will not be over because a banner says so; it will only be over when every last man, woman and child knows how to prevent the Ebola virus infection and is actively pursuing such a course and we are not quite there yet.
Kenneth Kwamina Thompson is the Chief Executive Officer of Dalex Finance and Leasing Company Limited, a leading non-bank financial institutions in the country. He also chairs the “One Ghana United against Ebola” campaign and serves on the Advisory Board of the Ebola Education Fund.