Health professionals deliberate on Ebola Virus
A team of International researchers and health professionals from over 20 countries have met in Ghana to deliberate on how to strengthen the Ebola virus surveillance and preparedness in affected and potential high-risk countries.
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That, the team said, would make the global community more poised to avert a similar impact like that of the recent outbreak which claimed more than 11,000 lives.
The meeting was expected to broaden knowledge on potential Ebola virus disease risk and risk countries to enhance response interventions.
Participating countries included the United States, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Guinea and Sierra Leone.
Ebola discussions
The participants discussed the Ebola preparedness measures in their respective countries and shared experiences on how the recent outbreak was managed, so that they could learn from one another.
The meeting was organised by the Institute of Health Metric and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington, in partnership with Indepth Network, an international non-governmental organisation (NGO).
In his opening remarks, the Executive Director of Indepth Network, Professor Osman Sankoh, said the meeting had also become very necessary because the Ebola threat still lingered, explaining that some countries that did not record any cases or outbreaks, including Ghana, had been identified as high-risk countries because research had established that they were reservoirs of the virus.
Experienced participants
In his presentation at the meeting, Prof. Osman said most of the participants were directly involved in the management of the outbreak in their respective countries or, where cases were not recorded, in national surveillance and preparedness initiatives.
Prof. Simon Hay, a Professor of Global Health and Director of Geospatial Science from the USA, said the team was looking forward to putting on high alert preparedness measures in potential high risk countries such as Ghana.
Background
The most widespread epidemic of Ebola virus disease in international history was recorded in the West African sub-region in December 2013 and continued for over two years, resulting in significant loss of lives and social disruption across the region.
As a result, the WHO said as of February 2016, 28,638 suspected cases had been recorded, with 11,315 deaths internationally.
Ghana, even though did not record any confirmed cases, continues to maintain its surveillance and preparedness systems on red alert.
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