Wednesday, 13 August 2014 00:00
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Sri Lanka has joined the call for migrant workers to return as West Africa’s Ebola epidemic was dubbed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an “extraordinary event” and now constitutes an international health risk.
As many as 200 Sri Lankans are currently working in this region and unregistered workers could bring the numbers even higher. While this is significantly lower than other migrant worker countries such as the Philippines, there is still great need to inform people to return.
For the unregistered workers, perhaps the greatest source of incentive is calls from their families asking them to remove themselves from harm’s way. Despite global attention, workers would understandably be reluctant to give up their income and return, especially since there are no insurance schemes or similar measures to compensate them. The longer they are without work, the more dire their situation will become.
Local health authorities also need to gear up to check tourists coming not just from the West African region, which is limited, but from other parts of the world as well. WHO has already said the possible consequences of a further international spread of the outbreak, which has killed almost 1,000 people in four West African countries, were “particularly serious” in view of the virulence of the virus.
The UN agency has also noted while all states with Ebola transmission – so far Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – should declare a national emergency, there should be no general ban on international travel or trade. This has put other countries on high alert.
Ebola has no proven cures and there is no vaccine to prevent infection, so treatment focuses on alleviating symptoms such as fever, vomiting and diarrhoea – all of which can contribute to severe dehydration.
The current outbreak, in which at least 1,711 people have so far been infected, of whom 932 have died, is the most severe in the almost 40 years since Ebola was identified in humans. The WHO said this was partly because of the weakness of the health systems in the countries currently affected, which lacked human, financial and material resources. It also said inexperience in dealing with Ebola outbreaks and misperceptions of the disease, including how it is transmitted, “continue to be a major challenge in some communities”.
The world was already on the lookout for Ebola victims before the WHO issued a global alert last Friday. Europe was also scrambling to prevent the disease from being brought in by people travelling from West Africa, although the European Commission said the risk of Ebola reaching the European Union remained “extremely low”.
WHO has stopped short of calling for travel restrictions on flights, but British Airways and Emirates are among airlines that have stopped flying to and from countries where Ebola has claimed victims. Passengers on flights to Germany’s biggest airport, Frankfurt, who show signs of the disease, are marked out with a red sticker before being taken directly to a hospital after landing. Passengers in the neighbouring seats receive a yellow sticker and are examined in an isolation room.
Specialist isolation units have been set up in many other countries including South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Serbia, Sweden and Bosnia to deal with any cases. Sri Lanka so far does not seem to see a threat and while risks are admittedly low, both workers and the rest of the populace need to be protected.
