The Ebola Outbreak And Poor Medical Infrastructure

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.

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 &

Despite modest health improvements in the decade or so following the end of active conflict, the 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic revealed ongoing systemic issues. The global involvement in the Mano River region countries, and particularly the role of the World Health

Hey! So I was reading this essay in the book that I bought for my English 101 class about how the horrible stuff you see on the news is COMPLETELY blown out of proportion sometimes and I just thought, “Wow, that’s completely true.” ‘Cause sometimes it’s just ridiculous! Like a couple years ago when there was that Ebola crisis and people TOTALLY freaked out! In reality, not many people in America got it and yet SO MANY PEOPLE were afraid of getting it. Like, what the hell? That’s stupid. People can be worried about the people who ARE getting it, but to actually think you’d contract it yourself is completely unrealistic! People seriously need to calm down.

Hospital-Acquired Infections entail, urinary tract infections, pneumonia and bloodstream infections. In addition to the patients, the Infections tend also to affect the healthcare workers who usually take care of the patients who are the main sources of the of the infectious diseases in the hospitals. The project tends to investigate the best evidence-based practices and approaches used to reduce the rate transmission and spread of the HAIs, such as washing of hands by healthcare workers. The statement of the problem focuses on the best methods and efforts that can be developed and implemented in the hospitals with the objective of preventing the Hospital Acquired Infections contributed by healthcare workers and the patients who come for treatments at the hospitals (CDC, 2016).

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.

Jeffery Reid Instructor: Mrs. McCree Course: Comm 2200 Sec # 2200-048 Date: 10/26/2014 Speech title: Ebola: The New Plague Specific Purpose: My purpose for this speech is to inform my audience about Ebola in West Africa and show parallelism between the reception of aid and treatment between underdeveloped and developed countries. Central Idea Statement: My Central ideas will focus on the history of the disease, what exactly the disease is, and the affects the illness has had on West Africa vs. developed countries like The United States. Introduction I. Attention: The Ebola virus is an epidemic that is a global threat to not only our health but to life, as we know it, which in turn, if left unchecked could eventually become a plague on humanity.

Children, especially those under the age of five, are at a high risk of contracting the disease, and dying from it. The problem of malnutrition, combined with disease, also increases the death rate. As of November 20, 2015, there have been official reports of 39,619 people infected and 474 deaths. Around 77% of the cases have been children five years old and under, and a large majority of the deaths have been from this age group, as well.

Imagine being isolated from your friends and family, suffering from an illness that feels as though something is burning through your body, while watching people around you dying of the same illness and wondering when it will be your turn to proverbially “kick the bucket”. For many survivors of the Ebola disease, this situation would be far too familiar. In March 2014, the Ebola virus outbreak began in West Africa, mainly in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. According to a recent figure from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there have been a total of 28616 Ebola cases and 11310 deaths from Ebola in these three countries (2014). There were many unpalatable symptoms of the disease, such as “fever, headache, joint and muscle pain, widespread bleeding, diarrhea and other physical symptoms leading to high mortality” (Van Bortel). If one is lucky enough to survive this virus, however, there are just as many negative results of the virus as there were symptoms. Many West African survivors have to deal with their new negative image, negative lasting health effects, or a decrease in financial stability due to their inability to work or find work after they recover. Now that the West African Ebola epidemic is over, (Liberia) there remains the task of assimilating the survivors back into their societies. Moreover, the best solution to counteract the effects of the Ebola virus on survivors is to expand upon the Ebola-survivor-support organizations already in place.

The Ebola epidemic is a viral disease that spreads very quickly and has high mortality rate. The outbreak is actually an international disaster at the moment and has created a lot of tension worldwide (Spark, 2015). Presently the epidemic is ongoing in most of West Africa countries with Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea being the most badly hit. The epidemic has been reported in Nigeria, Mali, United States, Senegal and Spain too (World Bank, 2015). However, the epidemic has been maintained in most of the countries except in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea where Ebola is yet to be controlled. It is worth noting that other countries especially African countries are at a high risk of reporting cases of Ebola making governments from all parts of the world to remain alert (The World Bank, 2014).

These four cases not only show that globalization and ease of travel between areas of the outbreak has made the U.S. population susceptible to Ebola, but it also demonstrates that medical technology, infection control measures, and the coordinated response helped to prevent a large-scale outbreak. Hospitals across the country have implemented policies and procedures for evaluation and management of patients who present to emergency rooms with possible EVD. The CDC has developed an algorithm to guide emergency

To date there have been more cases and deaths during this outbreak of Ebola than all the other outbreaks together. The disease has spread between countries such as Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone due to very poor health systems, a lack of doctors and nurses as well as hospital and clinics, and because they have just recently come out of long periods of civil wars and instability. On August 8, 2014 the World Health Organization Director-General declared the West Africa outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International concern (World Health Organization,

The United States of America (one of the richest countries in the world) has only four hospitals with isolation units and staff trained, capable of handling hazardous and extremely contagious diseases such as Ebola. The four hospitals are: Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, GA, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE and St. Patrick Hospital, Missoula, MT. These four hospitals can treat less than a dozen patients at a time. Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital was not equipped or trained to handle a patient with a highly contagious disease such as Ebola. The United States is not prepared to handle a possible Ebola epidemic, because hospitals are not taking the proper precautions that they should be.

It is interesting that nursing practice must continually update and adjust to meet the changes in our society. The Ebola scare in 2014 has opened the eyes of many health care leaders to the global health concerns. Nurses must extend their vision beyond their community and be engaged in the world health issues. Along with the advances in technology comes the conveniences of outspread communication and travel access to even remotest places. It is mostly in exposing oneself to a foreign culture and condition that one contracts and spread a strange disease. Despite some general travel regulations, detecting someone in danger of harboring a disease is difficult to control due to mostly delayed symptoms.

The current Ebola virus breakout that is pervading West Africa and that recently surfaced in the United States represents one of the largest viral pandemics known to date. Within three months, the breakout set the record as the widest sweeping and most fatal of any known Ebola pandemic (“Ebola Outbreak Sets Sobering Record” 1432). To date, there is no known cure or vaccination that has been proven to treat the virus. Furthermore, the current regions of West Africa facing the brunt of the outbreak are ill-equipped to face such a widespread and immersing plague. Despite the extensive response from the global network, which has ranged anywhere from increases in aid workers and medical supplies to heightened research and testing, the Ebola outbreak