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AFRICAN HEALTH MINISTERS WARN PEOPLE OF SARS Lovemore Mataire |
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The World Health Organization regional director for Africa, Dr Ebrahim Sambasaid, welcomed the call by African health ministers for appropriate responses to SARS and pledged continued support to the African countries. He said while speaking from his base in Brazzaville, Congo, "WHO is determined to track down every possible case of SARS…Openness and transparency are prerequisites to achieving this goal, and the openly expressed concern of the African health ministers in Tripoli demonstrates their understanding of this priority." Late last month, the African health ministers in their meeting under the auspices of the African Union called for more intensive advocacy on SARS and the mobilization and deployment of resources to keep the disease at bay. They called for collective action through regional cooperation since the failure by one country to control SARS could put the entire continent at risk. The ministers also noted that if SARS were to take hold in Africa, it would over-stretch already over-burdened health systems, potentially causing panic and social unrest while aggravating crises facing many countries such as poverty and the incidence of HIV/AIDS. Delegates to the meeting stressed that awareness-creation, rapid information, quarantine facilities at airports as well as land and seas transit points were key to detecting and preventing the disease. In the absence of a SARS cure, most governments around the world are focusing on efforts to contain the spread of the disease. But no cases of SARS has been reported in Zimbabwe since the virus hit China in November last year and spread to other countries such as Hong Kong, Canada and the United States. Press reports last week said Africa might have had first probable SARS related death of 62 year old man. The South African government has however refuted that a cardiac arrest and not the killer virus caused the death. The 62-year-old South African man was diagnosed as a probable SARS case on the basis of the clinical symptoms he displayed and the fact that he had just returned from Hong Kong, where SARS is wreaking havoc. This incident put South African health authorities on full alert, reinforcing warnings to Customs officials to lookout for people who displayed symptoms of SARS. In Mozambique there are reports that a senior ruling party official is on a 10-day quarantine after returning home from China, the country worst hit by the epidemic. According to the Business Day website, Armando Guebuza, secretary-general of the Mozambique liberation Front (FRELIMO) and members of his delegation were met by health officials at the airport upon arrival from China last Friday. There were placed in isolation at the resort town of Bilene, 100 km north of Maputo to clear them of the SARS virus. No cases of the disease have been reported so far in Mozambique. In Zimbabwe the government has dismissed rumors circulating on the Internet that a Chinese businessman attended the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) was whisked away from the fair after he allegedly fell ill. Many people in Zimbabwe have been wondering whether the country has the capacity to fight SARS in the event on an outbreak in view of the shortage of drugs coupled by the high incidence of HIV/AIDS. Health and Child Welfare Minister, Dr David Parirenyatwa has allayed fears that the country's overburdened health delivery system might not be able to cope in the event of an outbreak. He said that although there were no confirmed cases yet in Zimbabwe, the country was on high alert. "We hope SARS does not get here. With our high HIV incidence, another infection to people with weakened immunity would be a disaster," Dr. Parirenyatwa said. It is estimated that more than 30 percent of the adult population in Zimbabwe are living with HIV and Aids while at least 2 500 are said to be dying every week of Aids related illness in the country. The ministry, he said, had tightened health surveillance systems with a view of ensuring prompt detection and prevention of SARS. The minister said port health officials have been dispatched to the Harare International Airport, and Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo and Victoria Falls airports to screen visitors.
Some visitors from the Far East are being monitored for at least 10 days because SARS incubation period is between three and seven days. The ministry must be commended for putting in place the tight monitoring system by the port health officials since travelers from countries that have been affected by SARS pose a real threat to the country. Experience from other countries has shown that if port health officials are lax travelers infected by the SARS virus may enter a country undetected and by the time the disease is detected it would be too late to contain it.
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