Government Of Health Systems : Liberia And Sierra Leone

In late 2013, Ebola virus disease (EVD), a deadly and lethal disease, remerged in West Africa spreading to various countries in the region. In humans, the disease is spread through contact with infected bodily fluids leading to haemorrhagic fever (World Health Organization [WHO], 2015). Originating in 1976 in equatorial Africa, past outbreaks with a few hundred cases had been contained within rural, forested areas in Uganda and Congo (Piot, 2012). In 2014, a total of 20, 206 cases and 7,905 deaths were reported to have occurred in up to eight countries worldwide. Of all cases and deaths resulting from the disease, 99.8% occurred in three neighbouring West African countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea (WHO, 2014). With a case fatality rate from about 50% to 90%, and the absence of preventative or curative therapies, the Ebola epidemic has led to overall global alarm and further elucidated existing global health disparities that perpetuated the epidemic with these West African countries.

In 2014 the world watched in horror as West Africa experienced the largest Ebola epidemic in history. Affected countries in Africa included Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone and the epidemic, having begun in December 2013, went on for a full year, with additional cases occurring throughout 2015. Over 19,000 cases were reported by December 2014 and of those, 7,518 lost their lives. Today, we know that in total, over 11,000 people lost their lives ("Previous case counts", 2016). There were many factors at play in this outbreak, such as the emergence of a new strain Ebola virus; a lack of preparedness in West Africa, where Ebola had not been seen prior to 2014; a shortage of health care workers and subsequent death of many more them, leading

UNICEF officer, Suzanne Mary Beukes provided a clearer insight to how poor the country of Guinea is when she wrote, "The world has virtually quarantined a country in which 43 percent of people were already living on less than $1.25 a day prior to this health crisis” (Gholipour, 2014). The countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone (the countries where outbreaks primarily occurred), are some of the poorest countries in the world as a result of their recent civil war and the damaged health and education infrastructures that followed. (“Factors that Contributed to the Spread of Ebola,” n.d., para. 10). The poor infrastructures led to the delayed transportation of patients and lab work to labs and hospitals in addition to the lack of communication between health facilities. In addition to the lack of health facilities, there was shortage of healthcare workers. “Prior to the outbreaks, the three countries (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone) had a ratio of only one to two doctors per nearly 100,000 population” (“Factors that Contributed to the Spread of Ebola,” n.d., para. 15). The poverty in these cities and countries lead people to want to move to a better standard of living, be treated for the virus, and look for food &

The residents of Africa are suffering from preventable, treatable, and fatal diseases everyday at a higher rate compared to developed countries. The healthcare crisis in Africa is the primary cause of all these deaths, and includes inefficient healthcare systems. Consequently, African's inefficient healthcare systems results in poor delivery of care and a shortage of health professionals. The healthcare crisis in Africa is a current issue impacting the lives of many African's who don't have the same access to resources as developed countries such as the United States. These resources can save the lives of many African's dying of preventable and curable disease, and understanding why the African continent has little access to them

I was born in Monrovia, Liberia. Liberia is a country on the west coast of Africa that had endured a civil war from 1989 -2005. Liberia infrastructures are in ruins because of the civil war. Mostly, Importantly the Liberian medical infrastructure is non-existent. Liberia has only one medical school, and there are only 173 doctors in Liberia, a country with about 2.8 million citizens. Liberia medical infrastructure put to the test during the Ebola outbreak of 2014. The world watched as the Liberian medical apparatus collapse under its own weight. For example, there weren't enough medical facilities to facilitate Ebola patients. The Liberian government shut down schools, so they could be just as makeshift clinics. An estimated 5000 Liberians

Care of people with Ebola is difficult and varied due to the highly infectious and often fatal nature of the disease. For instance, care can occur through traditional healers, the home, primary health care facilities and hospitals (Manguvo, A & Mafuvadze, B 2015, p. 2). Where a individual seeks care depends on the level of trust in the healthcare system, accessibility and abundance of healthcare facilities, financial and economic stance and cultural beliefs (WHO 2016). There was considerable difference in the ability of health care services to deal with infectious diseases due to scarcity in supplies and training. When the Ebola epidemic began in 2014 Sierra Leone 's government health care system was built on rigid foundations. There were scant resources, limited infrastructure, poor training on infection prevention and control and a severe shortage of health care workers with a ratio of 1.9 workers for every 10,000 people. (Michaels-Strasser et al. 2015, p. 61). The lack of IPC training lead to ‘health care workers being 100 times more likely than the general population to contract Ebola’ (Ratnayake et al. 2016, p. 2). When healthcare workers became infected colleges became frightened further reducing community trust in the healthcare system.

In 1991 Sierra Leone entered into a period of civil war that lasted until 2002, killing over 50,000 people, devastating the economy and heavily damaging the country’s infrastructure. (About Sierra Leone,” n.d.). More recently, Sierra Leone is one of three countries most seriously impacted by a deadly Ebola epidemic. The Ebola outbreak created a financial drain on government resources due to the immediate, costly requirements to handle population health and medical needs.

The FRONTLINE documentary, Outbreak, tells the story of the Ebola outbreak of 2014. They trace the disease way back to where the very first cases of it were scene. The outbreak of ebola originated in the West African country of Guinea. It quickly begins to spread to other countries like Sierra Leone and Nigeria. The spreading was a result of individuals who contracted the disease moving and traveling across Africa. Many of these countries believe that they could control the disease at a small-scale, but they surely underestimated the severity of the outbreak. As more and more cases arose, and the disease spread even within the hospitals and quarantine sites, it seemed liked there was no resolution. With so many unanswered questions and no solution

The 2014 epidemic was the first truly transnational outbreak of Ebola, the longest in duration, and the first with a human case diagnosed on American soil. (Wilson, 2015, 1) This was a pivotal moment of global health, as it occurred at the formal end of the UNMDGs, some of which aimed to improve health conditions in vulnerable countries. (Wilson, 2015, 3) These and other MDGs were set back by this epidemic, (UNDP 2014) exposing the role that chronically weak and underfunded public health systems played in disrupting perceptions of global health security. In an epoch characterized by neoliberal globalization, vulnerabilities caused by interdependency between the Global South are easy to identify, producing discourses of explanation,

Every illness begins at a single source that can rapidly spread to susceptible individuals who are completely unaware of what is occurring before them. This infection sparks a chain of events that can quickly transform a small illness into an epidemic. On March 25, 2014 the World Health Organization(WHO) announced the outbreak of a new strain of the Ebola virus disease with 86 suspected cases[15]. From this point onward, constant updates have been documented, and until the end of November 2014 the condition grew in number and prevalence[7]. With additional efforts and protocols instituted by organizations such as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus began to fall until the present day. Fortunately, a pharmaceutical company

On March 23, the WHO’s Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) released the first Ebola report on the emergence of the disease in Guinea. At this time, the WHO sent teams into the field to manage and trace cases. It also notified WHO labs across Africa to prepare to diagnose cases. As the prevalence of Ebola grew, the WHO maintained contact with its regional offices in West Africa. AFRO’s regional director, Dr. Luis Sambo, called for greater epidemiological aid and implementation of the IHR’s alert system requirements. Between March and May of 2014, the WHO sent more than 100 experts to aid in the control of the outbreak. A cross border surveillance program began in June to limit the spread of the disease between the countries. During this time, the WHO continued meeting with government leaders in West Africa, AFRO representatives, and relevant organizations including the CDC and MSF. In June, MSF called for the WHO to increase its response. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the WHO responded by upgrading the outbreak a Level 3 emergency. A Level 3 grade constitutes a greater WHO role in the outbreak, particularly through an increase in resources

Every time you turn on the news or pick up a newspaper, there is something being reported about the spread of Ebola. The Ebola outbreaks occurring in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are growing larger and larger. This is the largest outbreak with more cases and deaths since Ebola was first discovered nearly four decades ago. United States doctors and missionaries have traveled to these countries to help treat infected people. However, there have now been cases where U.S. citizens have contracted the disease and have been brought back to the United States to be treated. This has caused raised concerns about the disease spreading in the U.S. as well. The physical, cultural, economic, political and religious geography of Africa have all played

The Ebola outbreak that started in Guinea in March 2014 and that spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia later, is not the first Ebola outbreak in human history. In fact, 25 Ebola outbreaks were recorded since the virus was first discovered in 1976. But this year’s outbreak has been the severest one because of its widely geographic spread[ http://time.com/47018/ebola-breaks-out-in-west-africa/] and the lack of health infrastructure in those three countries hardest hit. Although in February, the United States and 28 other countries announced the Global Health Security Agenda, one of whose goals was to prevent and reduce the likelihood of outbreaks, the US response in the early months was not enough given the size of the disaster.[ http://ic.galegroup.com.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/ic/ovic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&display-query=&mode=view&displayGroupName=News&limiter=&u=psucic&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CA382718305]

the Ebola outbreak could have been contained, but due to a political transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo, that was explained by the “interruption of international cooperation, inadequate disease surveillance and reporting, and a breakdown of the general health care infrastructure, due in part to a lack of motivation among poorly paid health

The Ebola virus made Sierra Leone one of it’s biggest victims as it spread across West Africa. It is no doubt due to the Ebola epidemic that Sierra Leone’s demographic pressure remained fragile according to the index. According to the World Health Organization, Sierra Leone acted according to protocol, yet outbreak was eminent. It is here where the deficiency in public services correlating with the demographic pressures in Sierra Leone becomes most evident. The quality healthcare in Sierra Leone might have improved but it is still in need. Although control was implemented eventually, lives were still taken due to the severe shortage of public services and the lack of quality health care in Sierra Leone. Infection spread to nearly 23,000 in West Africa since the outbreak in March 2014. A handle has been taken on the epidemic, mostly contributed to the slight improvement in Sierra Leone recently as well as foreign intervention- ironically enough from former colonizer Great Britain. Unfortunately, controversy has plagued Sierra Leone on behalf of Ebola outbreak efforts. Not only does the WHO claim that “today, Sierra Leone’s most urgent needs include opening up more Ebola care facilities- which means more trained staff to meet a severe shortage” but CNN reports that there has been a severe misappropriation of funds regarding Ebola aid. Although it may be appropriate to acclaim the audits of Sierra Leone for recognizing such misappropriation, one cannot neglect to understand that corruption and capacity failure in the structure of Sierra