In fight to stop Ebola, Nigeria got right everything that the US got wrong


By David Francis, Foreign Policy,
Foreign Policy


October 21, 2014, 11:20 PM




WASHINGTON — When the first case of Ebola was discovered in Nigeria this summer, Jeffrey Hawkins, the U.S. Consul General in Lagos, said that an outbreak there could become an "apocalyptic urban outbreak. The last thing anyone in the world wants to hear is the two words, 'Ebola' and 'Lagos,' in the same sentence," Hawkins said in July..

Americans yawned, assured that if Ebola did somehow make it to their shores, the world's richest country would swiftly and easily eradicate it from its borders. "The United States had overconfidence in their ability to stop it," said David Dausey, a Yale-trained epidemiologist who works on controlling pandemics and who is dean of the School of Health Professions and Public Health at Mercyhurst University.



However, Hawkins and others had plenty of reason to worry about Africa's most-populous country, Nigeria, which had 20 Ebola cases and eight deaths. Lagos, with some 21 million residents, is the continent's biggest city.

In addition, 49 percent of Lagos state's population lives in poverty in slums with little sanitation. Making matters worse is that doctors discovered an Ebola case in Port Harcourt, another extremely poor area where the majority of people live in shanties with almost nonexistent sanitation (keep in mind, the disease is spread by bodily fluids).

And it was not just lives at risk. As FP reported in August, an outbreak in Nigeria had the potential to devastate West Africa's economy.

Nigeria seemed like the ideal petri dish for the virus to grow. That's what makes the World Health Organization's announcement that "Nigeria is now free of Ebola virus transmission" a massive relief in the fight to stop the pandemic that began in December 2013.

That WHO announcement reveals an organization that seems to be in disbelief. In a situation assessment, the WHO called it a "spectacular success story" that prevented "potentially the most explosive Ebola outbreak imaginable."

So how did Nigeria, a country with poor public-health infrastructure and a GDP of $510 billion, manage to contain the disease when the United States, a country with sophisticated public-health infrastructure and a GDP of $17.3 trillion, could not?

First, a bit of luck: Nigeria's "patient zero," a man from Liberia, collapsed in a Lagos airport, making it easier to identify those exposed to the disease.


"What helped Nigeria is that they quickly traced the source of the virus," said Richard Downie, an expert on Nigeria at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The fact that he collapsed in the airport was good luck in a good way."

However, Downie credits Nigeria, a country not known for coordinated or effective action at the national level (see the fight against Boko Haram), for what came next.

"What impressed me the most about the response, and somewhat surprised me given Nigeria's track record in dealing with other crises, is that they were so thorough about it," Downie said. "They quickly amassed a list of anyone who may have come into contact with the index case. They hit the streets. They had a fast response, came up with a plan, and did the legwork on the ground."

According to the WHO, the public-health community knew an outbreak in Nigeria was a potential disaster. As soon the first case was discovered, the WHO, the CDC, and other government officials "reached 100 percent of known contacts in Lagos and 99.8 percent at the second outbreak site, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil hub."

Isolation wards were then created, followed by treatment facilities. People who tried to escape were digitally tracked and returned to isolation. Doctors Without Borders and the WHO quickly trained local doctors to treat the disease. And while Nigeria's public-health system is poor, it's not nonexistent; aid groups have been working to eradicate polio there for years.

In an interview with Time magazine, Faisal Shuaib, a doctor at Nigeria's Ebola Emergency Operation Center, also said that stopping public panic was instrumental.

"People began to realize that contracting Ebola was not necessarily a death sentence," Shuaib said. "Emphasizing that reporting early to the hospital boosts survival gave comfort that [a person] has some level of control over the disease prognosis." Shuaib added that keeping Nigerian borders open — the opposite of a strategy being thrown around in Washington right now — helped to contain panic.

On the other hand, the United States has done almost the complete opposite of Nigeria. It took 11 days to diagnose Thomas Eric Duncan with Ebola after he was turned away from a hospital six days after the Liberian's arrival in Dallas. Amid questions about whether medical personnel were properly trained to treat the disease, two nurses who treated Duncan, Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, contracted it. Vinson was allowed to travel round-trip to Cleveland, despite reporting a fever to the CDC, which has been on its heels since Ebola arrived in America.

Meanwhile, the political efforts to reassure the American public have been inconsistent; on Friday, President Barack Obama appointed Ron Klain, a political operative with no public-health experience, to coordinate the government's response. The Pentagon created a 30-person medical personnel team to train people to treat the virus. Politicians continue to call for a travel ban, while cable news covers the three cases as if they represent a national outbreak.

Nigeria's success "is a first-class effort," Downie said. "There's a lot here for other countries to learn, including the United States."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-wp-wp-frgnp-bc-ebola-nigeria21-20141021-story.html

Yet some pigs would act as if Jesus himself stays in the US. Hope this opens their eyes

No virus will prosper in this country as long as GEJ reigns not even the e Bola Ahmed virus.

Mogidi:
No virus will prosper in this country as long as GEJ reigns not even the e Bola Ahmed virus.

You just couldn't resist mentioning the M.oron could you?

#MADEOFGREEN

torkaka:


You just couldn't resist mentioning the M.oron could you?

I prefer calling him e Bola, ok if your pet name for him is mo.ron.

Mogidi:


I prefer calling him e Bola, ok if your pet name for him is mo.ron.

I was referring to Fedora hat man

torkaka:


I was referring to Fedora hat man

And I implied frog-eyes.

MY LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT!!!

Mr President,
(abeg permit me to call you Bros
J),

We are the youths from the hood
(THE DISPLEASED MASSES). you
know say we been dey your back
since your "Nineteen-before-
before" days as a VP. When your
late principal Yar'adua was sick and
incapacitated, we made noise to
've you wear the crown against the
wishes of some cabal. Now as oga
at the top, you no even remember
us even though you were once in
this hood, now you arrange face
like say you no sabi us again! Oga
kilode, wetin happen? When Ebola
show face for Naija, na we the
masses protect you and na we
fight am to stand still. We drink salt
water, carry enough salt solution
bath take do 'odeshi'! What of all
the bitter kola we chop in our
quest to make sure say ebola no
spread mat for Naija? You yourself
no see ebola for face, na we fight
but na you the world dey
congratulate. We remember our
better doctors n nurses that died
in the process, na them sacrifice
themselves for this euphoria of
victory we are now basking on, and
you no even remember any of
them give award. Chai oga, e no
good o. You dey go Germany treat
malaria, enter London buy
toothpick, you dey chop 1billion
naira food, while people dey starve
for hood, and fight over ewa
agoyin and bread! Oga why? Chai,
'Diaris God o'!

Boko haram matter, na the
common man for hood dey
sacrifice their lives make we enjoy
peace, give YOU the GLORY.

Unemployment, na we the youths
the thing dey bite pass, we dey for
hood, man gotta survive, no food,
no money, youths carry stick thief,
police arrest, soldier shoot. Oga na
the hood we dey o! The heat,
mosquitoes and hunger here na
die. NEPA abi PHCN abi na EDC
(that company sef too change
name pass airtel) no gree
cooperate give us light, even the
contractors you give money to tidy
our roads don carry everything
vamoose. No food, no light, no
money, nothing for hood. Life here
seems hard as NECO oga, man dey
suffer, people dey die, but we still
dey smile dey hope say e go
better! We dey run go church
everyday na to see if GOD go
reason our matter, but GOD too
busy, that's why he made you the
president to take care of minor
issues. Abeg do something, shake
body anyhow... Remember say na
we give you the ladder you take
climb enter Aso rock and if you too
provoke us, na we go still remove
am. If you gather enough mind
and liver forget the hood, pray
make the hood no forget you
because na there sh*t go hit fan
for you. TAN no go fit do anything
to 've you re-elected o, na people
of the 'HOOD
REPUBLIC' go arrange everything
for you, but if you continue to fall
our hands, we go just treat your
Bleep up for 2015, na that time
devil go knack you hammer for
head!
On a personal note, The thing now
be say I need job, a house (n maybe a small car too ), I don
graduate from the University and
no better or manageable work gree
show face at all. Abeg what's up,
how we go do am? Remember
those at the hood sir, we sef be
human, we wan enjoy better life
too, no chop alone, remember the
youths in the hood oga, we sef
wan eat food pick meat chop, I dey
talk am now o, ehhh.
I know say you go reason our
matter cos you are a listening
Presido! Whether good or bad sha,
you still be our man. I go stop here
oga, make I go find where I go see
Gen, pay 50 naira take charge my
phone! Greet Auntie Patie for us,
tell am say na from people of the
hood, the masses dey greet am.
I be Valfrankie!


DISCLAIMER! The views expressed
here are the PERSONAL VIEWS of
the writer, and may or may not
necessary reflect that of any know
public institution, groups and/or
organisation!

Mogidi:


And I implied frog-eyes.

That settles, you go with Denrele, I go with shaft kapish?

torkaka:


That settles, you go with Denrele, I go with shaft kapish?

No wahala.

torkaka:


You just couldn't resist mentioning the M.oron could you?

he himself is a first class type of M.oron so as the rest of Tandroids.

hmmmm.this got me blushing with pride.

Canme4u:



he himself is a first class type of M.oron so as the rest of Tandroids.

you mean saTANs?

Mayydayy:
hmmmm.this got me blushing with pride.

Bros...pride ke??did u skip the part where they described Lagos as a place where 49% live in slums with little sanitation?or the port harcourt we call garden city that has majority living in shanties with almost non existent sanitationthe same Nigeria we call giant of africa?
The guy just finished 2 of our frontline cities in the same breath...

They must always find something to insult us, useless hypocrites

Tonitelli:

Bros...pride ke??did u skip the part where they described Lagos as a place where 49% live in slums with little sanitation?or the port harcourt we call garden city that has majority living in shanties with almost non existent sanitationthe same Nigeria we call giant of africa?
The guy just finished 2 of our frontline cities in the same breath...

sorry bro.sometimes i find it hard to focus on the negative.i notice the positives easily.

RockMaxi:

God himself intervened on our behalf yet some people will not acknowledge.

. . . . . . .are you saying He ignored Sierra Leone, Liberia & Guinea?

diz fu**tards dn insult nigeria tire, kai. they believe we would nvr gt outta of our predicament

Valfrankie:
MY LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT!!!

Mr President,
(abeg permit me to call you Bros
J),

We are the youths from the hood
(THE DISPLEASED MASSES). you
know say we been dey your back
since your "Nineteen-before-
before" days as a VP. When your
late principal Yar'adua was sick and
incapacitated, we made noise to
've you wear the crown against the
wishes of some cabal. Now as oga
at the top, you no even remember
us even though you were once in
this hood, now you arrange face
like say you no sabi us again! Oga
kilode, wetin happen? When Ebola
show face for Naija, na we the
masses protect you and na we
fight am to stand still. We drink salt
water, carry enough salt solution
bath take do 'odeshi'! What of all
the bitter kola we chop in our
quest to make sure say ebola no
spread mat for Naija? You yourself
no see ebola for face, na we fight
but na you the world dey
congratulate. We remember our
better doctors n nurses that died
in the process, na them sacrifice
themselves for this euphoria of
victory we are now basking on, and
you no even remember any of
them give award. Chai oga, e no
good o. You dey go Germany treat
malaria, enter London buy
toothpick, you dey chop 1billion
naira food, while people dey starve
for hood, and fight over ewa
agoyin and bread! Oga why? Chai,
'Diaris God o'!

Boko haram matter, na the
common man for hood dey
sacrifice their lives make we enjoy
peace, give YOU the GLORY.

Unemployment, na we the youths
the thing dey bite pass, we dey for
hood, man gotta survive, no food,
no money, youths carry stick thief,
police arrest, soldier shoot. Oga na
the hood we dey o! The heat,
mosquitoes and hunger here na
die. NEPA abi PHCN abi na EDC
(that company sef too change
name pass airtel) no gree
cooperate give us light, even the
contractors you give money to tidy
our roads don carry everything
vamoose. No food, no light, no
money, nothing for hood. Life here
seems hard as NECO oga, man dey
suffer, people dey die, but we still
dey smile dey hope say e go
better! We dey run go church
everyday na to see if GOD go
reason our matter, but GOD too
busy, that's why he made you the
president to take care of minor
issues. Abeg do something, shake
body anyhow... Remember say na
we give you the ladder you take
climb enter Aso rock and if you too
provoke us, na we go still remove
am. If you gather enough mind
and liver forget the hood, pray
make the hood no forget you
because na there sh*t go hit fan
for you. TAN no go fit do anything
to 've you re-elected o, na people
of the 'HOOD
REPUBLIC' go arrange everything
for you, but if you continue to fall
our hands, we go just treat your
Bleep up for 2015, na that time
devil go knack you hammer for
head!
On a personal note, The thing now
be say I need job, a house (n maybe a small car too ), I don
graduate from the University and
no better or manageable work gree
show face at all. Abeg what's up,
how we go do am? Remember
those at the hood sir, we sef be
human, we wan enjoy better life
too, no chop alone, remember the
youths in the hood oga, we sef
wan eat food pick meat chop, I dey
talk am now o, ehhh.
I know say you go reason our
matter cos you are a listening
Presido! Whether good or bad sha,
you still be our man. I go stop here
oga, make I go find where I go see
Gen, pay 50 naira take charge my
phone! Greet Auntie Patie for us,
tell am say na from people of the
hood, the masses dey greet am.
I be Valfrankie!


DISCLAIMER! The views expressed
here are the PERSONAL VIEWS of
the writer, and may or may not
necessary reflect that of any know
public institution, groups and/or
organisation!

this is a very competent display of gramatical intelectualism. You ve shown to us that pidgin English can also find its place among other official languages. My man it would be wrong if you are not recognised as an authority in pidgin English.

MORE . . . . . .


How to Avert an Ebola Nightmare: Lessons From Nigeria's Victory

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-20/ebola-how-nigeria-averted-a-nightmare-in-densely-populated-lagos



Ebola crisis: Nigeria's 'spectacular success' in combating virus provides hope for others

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/nigerias-spectacular-success-in-combating-ebola-provides-hope-for-others-9807027.html

overhypedsteve:
this is a very competent display of gramatical intelectualism. You ve shown to us that pidgin English can also find its place among other official languages. My man it would be wrong if you are not recognised as an authority in pidgin English.

LOL... Thanks very much! But I don't think there's any award for the best pidgin speaker in Nigeria, even if there is, Warri boys no go dull themselves!

torkaka:


You just couldn't resist mentioning the [b][size=20pt] M.oron [/size][/b]could you?

You mean Bola Ahmed? Don't mind the clown.

[size=20pt] First, a bit of luck: [/size]Nigeria's "patient zero," a man from Liberia, collapsed in a Lagos airport, making it easier to identify those exposed to the disease.


"What helped Nigeria is that they quickly traced the source of the virus," said Richard Downie, an expert on Nigeria at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The fact that he collapsed in the airport was[b][size=20pt] good luck in a good way."[b][/b][/size]

Some people will want to die as they read this:
I am a 100% pro America but consider the irony:
One of the most organized countries on earth the kind we all strive for our country to be like and surpass fumbled badly in its Ebola handling even after they wrote the playbook for handling contagions and epidemics meanwhile the Nigeria that some of us who are Nigerians so love to curse and hate especially now with Goody goody at the helm as the symbol of failure did well.Make Una die.

49 percent of Lagos state's population lives in poverty in slums with little sanitation. Making matters worse is that doctors discovered an Ebola case in Port Harcourt, another extremely poor area where the majority of people live in shanties with almost nonexistent sanitation (keep in mind, the disease is spread by bodily fluids).

Must they insult us just to make a point?
I knw some came here carefully read it word to word to hear them say Lagos State Govt did the most.

EMANY01:


You mean Bola Ahmed? Don't mind the clown.

I don't mean Bola Ahmed's "crown", I mean the village clown, fedora 360

Toyozzie:
#MADEOFGREEN

As in Hulk? Or Green Lantern?

This side of the US press is so objective ! So beautiful ! !

Haba!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before the article give Nigeria one praise, it will give Nigeria 3 insults.

torkaka:

In fight to stop Ebola, Nigeria got right everything that the US got wrong


By David Francis, Foreign Policy,
Foreign Policy


October 21, 2014, 11:20 PM




WASHINGTON — When the first case of Ebola was discovered in Nigeria this summer, Jeffrey Hawkins, the U.S. Consul General in Lagos, said that an outbreak there could become an "apocalyptic urban outbreak. The last thing anyone in the world wants to hear is the two words, 'Ebola' and 'Lagos,' in the same sentence," Hawkins said in July..

Americans yawned, assured that if Ebola did somehow make it to their shores, the world's richest country would swiftly and easily eradicate it from its borders. "The United States had overconfidence in their ability to stop it," said David Dausey, a Yale-trained epidemiologist who works on controlling pandemics and who is dean of the School of Health Professions and Public Health at Mercyhurst University.



However, Hawkins and others had plenty of reason to worry about Africa's most-populous country, Nigeria, which had 20 Ebola cases and eight deaths. Lagos, with some 21 million residents, is the continent's biggest city.

In addition, 49 percent of Lagos state's population lives in poverty in slums with little sanitation. Making matters worse is that doctors discovered an Ebola case in Port Harcourt, another extremely poor area where the majority of people live in shanties with almost nonexistent sanitation (keep in mind, the disease is spread by bodily fluids).

And it was not just lives at risk. As FP reported in August, an outbreak in Nigeria had the potential to devastate West Africa's economy.

Nigeria seemed like the ideal petri dish for the virus to grow. That's what makes the World Health Organization's announcement that "Nigeria is now free of Ebola virus transmission" a massive relief in the fight to stop the pandemic that began in December 2013.

That WHO announcement reveals an organization that seems to be in disbelief. In a situation assessment, the WHO called it a "spectacular success story" that prevented "potentially the most explosive Ebola outbreak imaginable."

So how did Nigeria, a country with poor public-health infrastructure and a GDP of $510 billion, manage to contain the disease when the United States, a country with sophisticated public-health infrastructure and a GDP of $17.3 trillion, could not?

First, a bit of luck: Nigeria's "patient zero," a man from Liberia, collapsed in a Lagos airport, making it easier to identify those exposed to the disease.


"What helped Nigeria is that they quickly traced the source of the virus," said Richard Downie, an expert on Nigeria at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The fact that he collapsed in the airport was good luck in a good way."

However, Downie credits Nigeria, a country not known for coordinated or effective action at the national level (see the fight against Boko Haram), for what came next.

"What impressed me the most about the response, and somewhat surprised me given Nigeria's track record in dealing with other crises, is that they were so thorough about it," Downie said. "They quickly amassed a list of anyone who may have come into contact with the index case. They hit the streets. They had a fast response, came up with a plan, and did the legwork on the ground."

According to the WHO, the public-health community knew an outbreak in Nigeria was a potential disaster. As soon the first case was discovered, the WHO, the CDC, and other government officials "reached 100 percent of known contacts in Lagos and 99.8 percent at the second outbreak site, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria's oil hub."

Isolation wards were then created, followed by treatment facilities. People who tried to escape were digitally tracked and returned to isolation. Doctors Without Borders and the WHO quickly trained local doctors to treat the disease. And while Nigeria's public-health system is poor, it's not nonexistent; aid groups have been working to eradicate polio there for years.

In an interview with Time magazine, Faisal Shuaib, a doctor at Nigeria's Ebola Emergency Operation Center, also said that stopping public panic was instrumental.

"People began to realize that contracting Ebola was not necessarily a death sentence," Shuaib said. "Emphasizing that reporting early to the hospital boosts survival gave comfort that [a person] has some level of control over the disease prognosis." Shuaib added that keeping Nigerian borders open — the opposite of a strategy being thrown around in Washington right now — helped to contain panic.

On the other hand, the United States has done almost the complete opposite of Nigeria. It took 11 days to diagnose Thomas Eric Duncan with Ebola after he was turned away from a hospital six days after the Liberian's arrival in Dallas. Amid questions about whether medical personnel were properly trained to treat the disease, two nurses who treated Duncan, Nina Pham and Amber Joy Vinson, contracted it. Vinson was allowed to travel round-trip to Cleveland, despite reporting a fever to the CDC, which has been on its heels since Ebola arrived in America.

Meanwhile, the political efforts to reassure the American public have been inconsistent; on Friday, President Barack Obama appointed Ron Klain, a political operative with no public-health experience, to coordinate the government's response. The Pentagon created a 30-person medical personnel team to train people to treat the virus. Politicians continue to call for a travel ban, while cable news covers the three cases as if they represent a national outbreak.

Nigeria's success "is a first-class effort," Downie said. "There's a lot here for other countries to learn, including the United States."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-wp-wp-frgnp-bc-ebola-nigeria21-20141021-story.html

This, coupled with bad sanitation and open gutters. And one wonders why anybody gets angry when I said that the place stunk more than a pig's a.s.s

Chayiiii!! See as this oyibo man pinish my beloved country, sey na slum full Lagos and shanty full port, Cheii cheii! Come put one mumu praise for the end, chayiiii, so im now expect make we clap for ourself now abi wetin?