Ebola: What will it take for us to learn?

It’s been a few months since reports of an Ebola outbreak hit the front pages of leading dailies and other media platforms in Uganda and beyond.

Initially limited to one district and with just a few cases reported, there was almost no need for concern or panic and life progressed normally. In fact, the government downplayed the severity of the outbreak and reassured local, regional and international stakeholders that the outbreak would soon be controlled!

Although quietly, the outbreak started evolving rapidly. It was no longer limited to one district but six, including reported cases in the capital Kampala. 

The World Health Organisation predicted that the number of fatalities was likely to increase to as much as 500 by January 2023 if Ugandan authorities maintain the business-as-usual attitude.

Unfortunately, while we should have learned a number of lessons from the recent management of the Covid-19 pandemic, we seem to have either forgotten all the lessons already or we probably learned nothing at all. For example, similar coping mechanisms and counterproductive response strategies such as deploying the military to enforce the standard operating procedures are still being applied.

 Inadequate measures to educate the public about the threat posed by the virus have been confirmed by reports of families that contracted and succumbed to the virus as a result of exhuming bodies of their loved ones to give them “befitting burials!” 

This state of affairs evokes several pertinent questions. For example, what will it take for us to learn that viral outbreaks such as Ebola, Covid-19, Marburg and others hardly confine themselves only to the borders where initial cases are suspected or reported? Did the coronavirus, for example, restrict itself to Wuhan in China? If it did not, what then makes us think the current Ebola outbreak cannot become a national, regional, continental or global crisis? What are we doing differently that can save the country, region, continent and the globe from yet another pending disaster?

While some international stakeholders have since committed resources and aid towards resolving this outbreak, some are seemingly waiting for the crisis to escalate and then scurry into action. This makes me question why such stakeholders always wait for crises to escalate before they demonstrate their concern and care. What did Covid-19 teach us about this kind of attitude? Where will the congruence be between the rhetoric of being mindful of others and delaying actions until the crisis gets out of hand?

Trending discourse regarding the public’s attitude around this Ebola outbreak has been partly attributed to their discontent with the handling of Covid-19 pandemic. Some sections of the public believe there is no Ebola outbreak and instead think this is yet another money-making ploy by the technocrats. So, how then does the government intend to restore public trust around its approach to managing such outbreaks and future crises?

With the Ebola outbreak, do we want the virus to first affect each one individually before the public becomes more vigilant and concerned? 

Will the recent premature closure of schools which has since attracted cries from parents, who never anticipated children to be home this early, send sufficient signals about the potential negative effects of the Ebola outbreak? 

Most importantly, what strategies are in place to ensure public safety and prevent the spread of Ebola during the upcoming festive season? 

How are people who do not believe that the Ebola outbreak is a real public health threat going to desist from travelling to their villages, including those that have been severely affected by the outbreak?

 What will it take to balance the need to keep people safe and healthy, economically productive and not socially constrained as result of this Ebola outbreak?

Whereas I may not have answers to these questions, igniting public debate about them may be a viable contribution to finding win-win solutions.

Dr David R. Walugembe is post doctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia, Canada