Blood donation in post-Ebola West Africa
Copyright: James Meiring. Winner HIFA Photography award 2016 What do wellington boots drying in the African sun have to do with blood donation in the post-Ebola era? Tell you later. But first, as its World Blood Donor Day on June 14th, lets consider the differences between the blood transfusion services in a high income country like the…
Ebola – the not so new virus
Ebola, now largely confined to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea claimed more than 9300 lives in West Africa in a year. I have selected key facts & insights from February’s national symposium “Ebola: The 21st century plague?" [Royal Society of Medicine, London, UK], held by international experts handling the epidemic. Covering the history of the disease, lessons learnt from 2014, and what strategies are in place for preventing future outbreaks, there was also an explanation finally as to why a rural outbreak became a regional urban epidemic, and an understanding of the complexity of medical volunteering and running ebola treatment centres.
Teaching tools for Ebola & public health diseases
Band Aid is a tried and tested method of public engagement, bringing Ebola to public attention and giving us all something we can do to help rather than just scaring us. What is also needed here, and in West Africa, is education. For a novel method of education, I bring you Giant Microbes, which are sold as teaching tools. They are soft plush “cuddly” toys, anthropomorphised versions of microscopic images of microbes, and provide information on the microbe and the disease it causes in the attached label. I own the Ebola virus toy seen in the photograph. For a novel method of education, I bring you Giant Microbes, which are sold as teaching tools. They are soft plush “cuddly” toys, anthropomorphised versions of microscopic images of microbes, and provide information on the microbe and the disease it causes in the attached label. I own the Ebola virus toy.
Ebola: a “filthy little virus” says Bob Geldorf
Following the launch of Band Aid 30 “Do they know its Christmas, Ebola song”, on X-factor [Sunday 16 November 2014], Bob Geldorf did the media rounds on the Monday morning including BBC 5live, to further drive home the message. People are dying from Ebola in West Africa because they are poor, living in countries without the health service infrastructure to stop it in its tracks, and “we are all just a plane ride away from it”. AS of that Monday, you can buy and download the song here via Amazon, Itunes and Google Play, or purchase the CD.
Accurate and timely communication is key to stopping transmission of Ebola
Global coverage of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa began with courageous foreign health care workers being flown home by their governments to save their lives, and rapidly moved onto the sheer panic amongst the local populations experiencing the outbreak: riots, health care workers and government officials abandoning their posts. Somewhere imbetween mention was made, usually by the foreign health care workers, of their local colleagues left behind who struggled on without resources and personal protection. We examine the need for timely accurate communication of health information to frightened communities to stop transmission and the death toll.