EBOLA: NO MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS IN SIERRA LEONE? Firstly, I have to say a big thank you to all the selfless medical professionals, Black and White, that are putting their lives on the line to save Ebola victims in Africa, you are my heroes and heroines, nothing in this post is directed at you. Almost every News Agency reporting on Ebola has eloped to the fact that the widespread of the disease is because of the lack of medical professionals in Sierra Leone, the Governments stay silent on the point and the conclusion is made that there are no medical professionals in Sierra Leone. The huge assumption, of course is that medical professionals can take up medical obligations without an organisational structure, neither need to work in collaboration with an International framework to support them. Therefore, this assumption, seamlessly blames the African people for the problem. For so long, we have often heard the western narratives on African problems and invariably, the African narratives is often muted, well, thanks to LinkedIn, we now have a voice to respond. (Thank you LinkedIn) This post seeks to find out whether the problem is lack of medical professionals in Sierra Leone, a failure of African Governments to employ the medical professionals in Sierra Leone or more importantly the fault of the WHO. The history of medical Professionals in Sierra Leone. This link explains that Sierra Leone has generated top international class medical professionals since 1792 Sierra Leone and Medical Professionals. Even in this supposedly unbiased depiction of African Medical professionals, brilliant enough to be identifying the medical problems Africans face for example sleeping sickness, there lies a very subtle undermining and discrimination of African medical professionals. Even in todays narrative, they call it African sleeping sickness, despite the fact its medical term is winterbottoms sign. Why refer to it in such an undermining tone, there is no such thing as African sleeping sickness, because it equally affects anyone susceptible to the agents, regardless the colour of their skin. This distinction in definition can be only be described as the discriminatory manner African professionals and technocrats are treated in a society that is still reluctant to come to terms with their achievements. (I face the same at work, where I am told to take off my qualifications from my email signature because it may offend the Execs). The point is, whether knowingly, or inadvertently, these two Saro Professionals, without me digging in their history in great depths must have faced a variety of institutionalized discrimination and diminishing comments of any of their achievements. Could this institutionalised mistreatment account for how African diseases are treated as well? Is there a parallel, between the innocently named African sleeping sickness and the concern that is heightened for Ebola ONLY when White people began to be victims? Take a look at the death tools , 4,000 Africans dead and not up to 10 white people have died and that 10 warrant an international response. Even Black Doctors are almost brainwashed into overlooking the seriousness of the discriminatory rationale. What are the medical institutions in Sierra Leone? Take a look for yourself, do you think these organisations are incapable of serving the medical requirements from Sierra Leone? This list does not only show Institutions in Sierra Leone but the international collaborations that have been set up. The problem cannot be the lack of African medical professionals, it must be the framework that is required to engage them. - tusol.org - University of Sierra Leone - kslp.org.uk/partners/college-of-medicine-allied-health-science/ -thelancet/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(64)92113-0/fulltext -westafricanmedicalmissions.org/page/show/797739-the-university-of-sierra-leone -kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divisions/global-health/newsevents/newsrecords/KSLP.aspx I know this list is not exhaustive, but where is the international engagement of these organisations as one would expect from Governments and IGOs in setting up international medical research programmes? The Institutions are there, the Sierra Leonean students are there, surely that is not all you need to have a state of the art medical framework is it? Where are the Government initiatives, where are the UN and WHO initiatives? Where is the equitable reporting of these fundamental flaws leading up to the discovery of Ebola? Dont forget Ebola is almost 40 years old, first discovered in Congo, where are the provisions in these countries? The UN was in Sierra Leone during the war, where is the inter Agency communication? Who knew about the problem in Sierra Leone and the impact of its war? See the report of what was known in Sierra Leone -who.int/mental_health/policy/country/sierra_leone_country_summary_2012.pdf Where was it mentioned in any of the reporting? Where was the Governments action to address the report it was clearly given or participated in the creation of? What is the role of the WHO in Sierra Leone and its responsibility towards EBOLA? WHO objective assess this statement in line with EBOLA and what happened: WHO is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It is responsible forproviding leadership on global health matters, shaping the health research agenda, setting norms and standards, articulating evidence-based policy options, providing technical support to countries and monitoring and assessing health trends. In the 21st century, health is a shared responsibility, involving equitable access to essential care and collective defence against transnational threats. When was EBOLA first discovered and did WHO discriminate against Africa? According to WHOs own records - The Ebola virus causes an acute, serious illness which is often fatal if untreated. Ebola virus disease (EVD) first appeared in 1976 in 2 simultaneous outbreaks, one in Nzara, Sudan, and the other in Yambuku, Democratic Republic of Congo. The latter occurred in a village near the Ebola River, from which the disease takes its name. The current outbreak in west Africa, (first cases notified in March 2014), is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the Ebola virus was first discovered in 1976. There have been more cases and deaths in this outbreak than all others combined. It has also spread between countries starting in Guinea then spreading across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia, by air (1 traveller only) to Nigeria, and by land (1 traveller) to Senegal. The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have very weak health systems, lacking human and infrastructural resources, having only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.On August 8, the WHO Director-General declared this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. A separate, unrelated Ebola outbreak began in Boende, Equateur, an isolated part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Conclusion I started by stating the manner in which African diseases are treated, I demonstrated to you that Ebola, right before our very eyes, took thousands of African lives and WHO kept up press releases and when Europeans started dying, it became an international emergency where money was no longer an object. I am sure the people at WHO would change from generation to generation, but you dont need a Doctorate to realise that treatment of African countries is unfair, just because they African leaders dont have the balls to raise this issue with WHO, does not mean Africans dont feel the consequences. We can only hope the next generation can start treating Africa and Africans fairly. Lord Abiodun Ogunseitan sent from my iPhone
Posted on: Sun, 26 Oct 2014 04:00:20 +0000
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