In my previous article I spoke about the importance of establishing intensive and complete preventive health programs to any country in the world. I mentioned as well how developed countries gave priority to these programs when working their budgets in response to what has been and still proved by intense studies for the past two decades, due to the unlimited dimensions in those preventive health programs to ease the economical burden on those countries on the long run, as well as helping the speed of growth, to flourish and develop, while maintaining the economical, political and social stability, as those programs affects individuals and deal with the negative and positive roots of the community.
An epidemic called “Rift valley fever” revealed our flaws, coming out from its hiding place presenting us with lessons we need to have a stop at, as the following lessons maybe as well be more harsh and damaging than expected.
What we saw from such epidemic is the outcome of expected reasons we ignored or neglected, and so, here is this phenomenon reflecting issues and problems that has deep implications penetrating in the roots of our communities that we all aspire to bring progress to, and work towards building while assuring its safety.
To reach the aim of building a healthy and complete system is not accomplished with the efforts of a single ministry regardless the amount of effort being put, to build a healthy system that involves providing the proper and basic infrastructure, such as the existence of a proper sewage system in each city and the ability to disposing waste in the fastest and best way and demolishing all swamps and eliminating rodents and mosquitoes, supervision over farm and livestock production process and many more. All this is does not fall only the responsibilities of health ministry of countries but all the others such as the ministry of agriculture and water, and ministries of municipalities and extends to ministries of information and education with the responsibility of bringing public health awareness to its citizens.
It is important to stand here and remind ourselves and everybody else that most of the cities of our countries lack of proper infrastructure such as sewage systems that did make big cities as an exception either.
This epidemic once again warns us that policies of actions and reactions has to be replaced with policies of respecting disciplines and applying plans done by researchers while supporting organizers on top of those programs and preventive projects with budgets that matches the importance of those projects to the community, and that I believe as many do that preventive health programs has to top those priorities.
This virus “Rift valley fever” taught us a dangerous lesson unrealized by many and only recognized by the ones who know how this virus multiplies. Its transmitted through a mosquito (Aedeses) when feeding off the blood of an infected animal, this mosquito is able to transmit the virus to its eggs, and those eggs can stay in hiding for many years in dry areas, but when new season rain comes, even after a few years comes out in the shape of Larvae eggs to form a new generation of mosquito’s carrying the virus to a new animal, and thus the epidemic awakens once again after many years to reap new human souls, knowing that this epidemic is not the worse or most dangerous at all, and so it is not enough just to eliminate mosquito’s and slaughter infected livestock to solve the issue.
This epidemic exposed to us our lack of ability to send out information correctly at the right time in the right way to the maximum amount of individuals in a community, as of the information which was vague to most in the first days of the epidemic, that is, this disease does not move to humans by eating well cooked meals, and so, many stopped eating beef and even chicken.
There are many lessons we learned and many others we need to learn from the epidemic of Rift valley fever, and there are many questions revived by this fever and awaits answers and requires transparency, and so we ask: what are the programs that will be achieved during the upcoming period, and let’s start with the sewage system…
We await the answer?
Connect With Me