Yahoo – AFP,
10 Nov 2014
Monrovia (AFP) - Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders called Monday for a change of strategy in the fight against Ebola in Liberia, to fund rapid response teams rather than huge isolation units.
Monrovia (AFP) - Medical aid agency Doctors Without Borders called Monday for a change of strategy in the fight against Ebola in Liberia, to fund rapid response teams rather than huge isolation units.
The
charity, known by its French initials MSF, said it is seeing a decline in the
number of patients admitted to case management centres in Liberia for the first
time since the outbreak started.
But new
hotspots continue to emerge and the global response must adapt to this new
phase of the epidemic, added MSF, which has around 3,300 staff across Liberia
and neighbouring Sierra Leone and Guinea.
"Financial
support is starting to flow into the country and huge resources are being put
into constructing large-scale Ebola isolation centres," said Fasil Tezera,
MSF head of operations in Liberia.
"Isolation
units in Monrovia and some other parts of the country now have adequate
capacity and we must adapt the strategy if we want to stay ahead of the curve
and beat the epidemic.
"Priority
should be given to a more flexible approach that allows a rapid response to new
outbreaks and gets the regular healthcare system safely up and running
again."
MSF says
its 250-bed ELWA3 centre in Monrovia is treating around 50 patients, while in
the northern town of Foya, at the epicentre of the outbreak, the number of
patients fell to zero on October 30, with no confirmed cases since.
But the
charity said case numbers could rise again, as happened in Guinea following two
significant dips in admissions to MSF facilities.
Ebola virus
disease, a tropical fever which is estimated to have a fatality rate of around
70 percent in the current outbreak, is transmitted through contact with infected
bodily fluids.
MSF said
the fight to contain the epidemic should now focus on deploying teams quickly
to new hotspots to isolate patients, trace people who have been in contact with
the sick, organise safe burials and carry out disinfection.
"In Foya,
we believe this comprehensive approach, as well as active engagement by the
community, has led to a steady reduction of cases across the county," said
Nico Heijenberg, MSF emergency coordinator.
The UN
World Health Organization is reporting around 5,000 deaths and 13,000
infections globally, although it has warned that this official toll could be
the tip of the iceberg.
The WHO has
also confirmed a slowdown in the spread of the virus in hardest-hit Liberia,
where 2,697 people have died out of a total of 6,525 cases.
But
officials from various UN agencies and the Liberian government have warned
against complacency.
No comments:
Post a Comment