Arusha authorities act to prevent Ebola outbreak
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads through human-to-human transmission. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care, as no specific licensed treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
Some institutions in the hub of the northern tourism circuit and seat of international organisations have started taking various preventive measures against the disease.
Arusha. Arusha is bracing itself for a possible outbreak of Ebola – a deadly communicable disease with a fatality rate of up to 90 per cent.
Some institutions in the hub of the northern tourism circuit and seat of international organisations have started taking various preventive measures against the disease.
The disease, which was formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, has reportedly claimed about 1,000 lives in four West African countries so far, namely Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria.
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads through human-to-human transmission. Severely ill patients require intensive supportive care, as no specific licensed treatment or vaccine is available for use in people or animals.
One of the spokespersons of Mount Meru Regional Hospital, Dr Omar Chande, said health workers were deployed at entry points, namely Ngorongoro, Namanga and the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA).
The region already had received preventive gear for the health workers from the ministry of Health and Social Welfare, he said.
Dr Chande said the regional hospital had set aside an isolation ward for patients in case the disease breaks out.
Operations and Technical Services director of the Kilimanjaro Airports Development Company, Mr Christopher Mkoma, admitted that health workers were inspecting arriving passengers well before they allow them to proceed to immigration officials. Direct interaction between arriving passengers and the Kilimanjaro International Airport (KIA) officials was discouraged, pending nod from the health workers.
Mr Mkoma said the International Civil Aviation Organisation had also deployed experts to train the KIA workers in handling Ebola cases.
“We also apply Advanced Passenger Information approach by tracing passengers from where they come from,” said Mr Mkoma, adding that the approach was also used for tracing drug dealers.
He said Kadco had in collaboration with the ministry also embarked on an awareness campaign targeting other aviation stakeholders.
Posters and brochures on symptoms of the fatal disease and preventive measures were distributed at the KIA as part of the campaign.
The Kadco Business Development manager, Ms Christine Mwakatobe, said owing to KIA emerging overall winner of the Routes Africa Airport Award 2014, Kadco had to beef up surveillance to ensure passengers were safe.
“We have more than doubled our health and safety surveillance effort to defend the Africa’s best airport award and attract more airlines,” she said.
KIA, which has increased passengers flying and landing at the airport by 24 per cent last year, envisages taking part in another competition slated for Chicago next month.
