As Ebola cases surpass 8,000, the first patient diagnosed with it in the US, died in Dallas, leading Washington to announce measures to fight the virus. As more cases are diagnosed outside of Africa, governments are rushing to contain the disease. Andrey Fedyorov, the Director of Centre for Political Research in Moscow, Russia, Terry Miller, Editor of “Beacon Media”, California, USA, Lukasz Kulesa, Research Director of the European Leadership Network (ELN), London, UK, and Roberto Ravera, Head of the Dept. of Clinical Psychology at the Hospital of Sanremo and Hospital of Imperia, and the Director of Mother Child Ravera Centre in Sierra Leone (West Africa) specialized in Mental Health and Psychological Treatment, shared their opinions with Radio VR.
Do you think that the moves by the UK and the US to start airport screenings and profiling the incoming passengers from the West Africa are fitting into this panic?
Andrey Fedyorov: Yes, but it is not very effective, because there are some people coming from West Africa every day only to the UK airports. And the problem of Ebola is that the symptoms are not visible sometimes even for two or three weeks. And you cannot screen everyone.
But what is more important – this is the risk for the world economy. And there are two elements. First of all, a possible drop in the air flights and passengers, because the people are afraid to fly with the people from Africa. And the second thing is a possible very negative economic influence if Ebola would hit Côte d’Ivoire. And in this case, cocoa and chocolate market will be destroyed. In this case the price for cocoa will double or triple. But I think that in a certain way the danger is a little bit over exaggerated. In Africa the death from the other reasons is ten times more every day. In Ethiopia, in Angola, in Kenya, everywhere. So, the question is about not only this area, but about the whole Africa. The whole Africa is a disaster from a medical point of view. If I remember it correct, in the last ten years about $6 billion have been pumped into the medical system of Africa, but nothing has changed.
How panicked the public in the US is? Do you think that the Government’s response to the threat of Ebola has been adequate enough?
Terry Miller: I don’t think the public is frightened enough yet, but the nurses association is extremely worried that the US is not prepared. Last week they issued a very serious warning that most hospitals haven't got anywhere near the facilities needed for an emergency outbreak of Ebola coming into the US. I don’t think our Government has done enough.
Can this tip into some kind of public hysteria?
Terry Miller: I don’t think so. I don’t think people are at that level yet. And I think information is everything. I don’t think the American public is going to panic, but they are certainly worried about flights into the general area and people are restricting their travel. But I think the Nurses Union is on the right track, when they said that our hospitals are lying to us, they are not prepared to deal with it, should it really spread. And I think that’s the key element here – preparation is everything.
The British Government has announced screening which will be brought to the airports. What measures the UK is taking exactly?
Lukasz Kulesa: Right now, it is basically the screening of the passengers at some British airports, which would be done through a series of questionnaires, making sure that we know whether or not they have been in contact with the people affected. That was introduced after the US started a similar program of screening the people in the airports.
What can we see in terms of political efforts?
Lukasz Kulesa: The government structures were not very strong in most of the countries affected. There are the reports about the lack of security and, basically, trust towards the governments and medical personnel. The people do not really know what to believe in. Then, there is the economic fallout and we have the estimates which are saying that the countries affected – Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – can lose as much as $1 billion in terms of economic losses.
And, of course, we cannot know to what extent there would be mid- and long-term consequences on the countries which were already weak before. So, this means that our assistance cannot be limited only to just stopping the disease, but actually also contributing to the rehabilitation and recovery of this area. The coming G20 summit may be a good opportunity to have the high-level involvement in this issue.
Please, tell us, how serious the threat of Ebola is for Africa and for the rest of the world?
Roberto Ravera: One of the biggest problems in the Western Africa is the transmission of the virus. But this happens mostly where there are no hygienic conditions. Sierra Leone is one of the poorest countries in the world, where there are very poor nurses and health service. There is also a big problem with the funeral ceremonies. In fact, the body of the diseased with Ebola is washed and the problem is that they don’t know that the virus is very-very dangerous. Now the population is very scared, because they don’t know what they have to do. They don’t know the meaning of the word “virus”. They’ve never seen it before. And the governments are not able to explain them what the Ebola virus is. So, I'm really worried about the situation in Sierra Leone, in the Western Africa.
The US is sending troops to West Africa to help combat this disease. Is this something that the three countries affected need and is it actually going to help?
Roberto Ravera: Well, there are two conditions. The first one is the cure. It is hospitals and places where it is possible to take care of the people with Ebola. Another condition is to prevent Ebola. This is another big problem. We have to understand better the meaning of prevention and helping adults to avoid bad behavior.
My organization is working on the prevention program in a big area, around three towns. A couple of months ago, when we began our project, we talked only just with the adults. But we have a serious difficulty, because they don’t understand. After that, we tried to move and speak with the children. And this is very interesting, because they are very smart. And they are able to understand what we are doing in Sierra Leone. And they try to teach and to correct the adults.
For example, when the people touch each other, the children say – “No, the doctor said don’t touch the other people to avoid any risk”. But the situation is very difficult now.
I would be in Sierra Leone next week for one month. And my project, the members of the staff work with the Ebola disease, they are very stressed and they want to abandon the project. But what will happen, if they won’t work in the hospitals.
You said that the cure and preventing is the best way to combat this outbreak, but is there a cure for the disease?
Roberto Ravera: The problem in Sierra Leone, in Liberia and Guinea is that they don’t have doctors, nurses and psychologists able to work in these conditions. For example, in the entire Sierra Leone there is no one psychologist. And to coordinate the prevention project we need a specialist in mental health, because you have to understand the local culture, their anthropology and religious beliefs.
Another big problem is, you know, it is terrible to say, but a lot of people die from Malaria or typhus, because no one wants to go into the hospital, because they are scared. And this is a big problem. I think the Western countries, and all the countries have to put a lot of commitment in Sierra Leone, because I think that the old population is at high risk. I feel very-very sad and worried, because the children without parents, alone in the streets, without care, without anything.
I try to spend all my time and energy. I have my staff is Sierra Leone. We have medical doctors, nurses, social workers. And we work a lot in the streets, because the children are in the streets and they have nothing to eat, because all the markets are closed.
It sounds very dire, what is going on in Sierra Leone. You said you are going to travel to Sierra Leone next week for a month. But before you do, as far as I understand, you are in Italy at the moment. And Italy is one of the countries where many of the African migrants come to, when they try to get into Europe. The UK, for example, has already introduced some screening at the airports. But, of course, that is just for one point of entry. But what about other points of entry, how safe are they and how can they be protected?
Roberto Ravera: Italy is a gate, because a lot of Africans come through the Mediterranean Sea. My opinion is that the risk of Ebola is not from the people coming on the boats from the Mediterranean area, because it is very difficult. The illness can create very dangerous symptoms just in a few weeks. The problem is in the airports, because you fly from Sierra Leone or Liberia, or Guinea and just in ten hours you are in Europe or in America. And this is a real problem.
And I ask all the authorities – please, you must intervene in the West Africa, because the origin of the disease is in the West Africa. We cannot close all the borders, because the problem is in Africa. I ask the governments – please, invest money and energy into the West Africa, otherwise it will be impossible to control the disease and to control the infection.
This is the problem. I talked here in the hospital with my colleagues and they are very-very worried, because we have a lot of African people here in the streets. Nobody wants to touch the black people, but this is not good, because it creates a separation in the social life and this is dangerous.
Another problem we want to avoid is that some terrorist can get a virus and use it in the Western countries. It is available everywhere in Sierra Leone – the bodies of the people who died from Ebola. What will happen if one terrorist can get the virus and spread it all over the world? This is one of the most important reasons why we have to invest money and energy into the Western Africa now.
