Don’t worry about Ebola disease, the govt alerts the general public

Tanzanians have been assured not to worry about the possible outbreak of the deadly ‘Ebola’ hemorrhagic fever. disease as the government has put in place effective strategic measures to curb the prevalence of the disease in the country. The spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Nsachris Mwamaja said yesterday in Dar es Salaam that, the government has formed a taskforce team consisting of medical experts who would work in collaboration with the health stakeholders to closely follow up the prevalence of the disease in the country. He told the Guardian over the telephone interview when contacted to clarify how the government has prepared itself to curb the deadly Ebola disease which has killed hundreds of people in West Africa, bearing also in mind that the disease was first discovered to have entered in the country in late 2012 from Uganda. Fears of a possible outbreak of the deadly Ebola disease are rising following fresh reports that another outbreak has rocked lives of people in West Africa The call by the government has come hardly a day after it summoned top health officials for an emergency meeting on Thursday this week with a view to draw up plans to forestall any possible Ebola attack in the country. The Thursday meeting at the ministry’s headquarters was in response to a growing concern among several nations both in Africa and Europe over the growing Ebola crisis that has killed hundreds in West Africa. According to Mwamaja, the government through the ministry of Health has also sent expertise in district and at national level to work on the issue to relieve the minds of the people about the possible outbreak of the disease in the country. He said the expert would work with the immigration staff to monitor visitors coming in the country as one way to curb the prevalence of the disease. However, he said adding that, the ministry has issued personal protective equipment which would help in monitoring.

Tanzania's Minister for Health and Social services Dr. Seif Rashid Seleman

For the precautions to be undertaken, the spokesperson noted that, the government has cautioned all district medical as well as their regional counterparts to corporate with the taskforce team into educating people about the disease. He also stated that, the district health workers had since started warning people in surrounding villages to take immediate measures whenever they come across such patients to be careful not to come into contact with any person whom they see vomiting or bleeding – clear signs of someone suffering from Ebola. He said when the first victim of the disease was discovered in the country in late 2012 in Kagera region, the government had bought the equipment that managed to help discover with ease the affected people, and now together with the fewer stock available, the government has added more to be used by the task force team. He affirmed that, the government is also working closely with the development partners to make sure that, there is a maximum effort to be added in order to eradicate any threat among the people especially in rural areas where awareness over the disease might be low. He said in case there will be any people found to have been affected by the disease would be put in separation in special camps and would not be mixed with others for fear of more infections. However, he noted the government has arranged to put in place such plans bearing the fact that, viruses causing Ebola disease are fast and spreading more quickly among the community and moreover it has no complete treatment other than prevention. Meanwhile, the government Chief Medical Officer, Donan Mmbando has said that Health Ministry is planning to solicit money for emergency purposes from the central government which would help experts to curb with any possible outbreak of the disease in the country. (Ebola HF) was a severe, often-fatal disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees) that has appeared sporadically since its initial recognition in 1976. The disease is caused by infection with Ebola virus, named after a river in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire), where it was first recognized. The virus is one of two members of a family of RNA viruses called the Filoviridae; there are five identified subtypes of the Ebola virus -- four of which have been known to cause disease in humans: Ebola-Zaire, Ebola-Sudan, Ebola-Ivory Coast and Ebola-Bundibugyo. The fifth, Ebola-Reston, has caused disease in nonhuman primates, but not in humans.