clothing preparing to screen delegates coming from West Africa against
Ebola
HEALTH Minister Joseph Kasonde has declared Zambia’s readiness to tackle the deadly Ebola virus which is currently ravaging West African countries.
Dr Kasonde said this during the launch of the US$30,000 worth Thermal Scanner donated by AVIC International at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka yesterday.
The minister said Zambia had no reason not to succeed in the fight against Ebola as the country had put the necessary preventive measures in place.
“I think that we can claim that we have what it takes to prevent Ebola becoming a serious issue in Zambia. We have the people, we know that our community is now ready to deal with the situation as it arises,” Dr Kasonde said.
“(It’s) only yesterday when I arrived from Kaputa where they are fully prepared as a community to look after such a situation should it arise. We also have a health system and you have heard over and over again that, above all, it is the health system which must be strong enough to control or prevent such a condition.”
Dr Kasonde said Zambia was benefiting from China in strengthening the health system against the deadly virus, among other conditions.
He also said that the Ebola outbreak had taught Zambia about the importance of disease surveillance, adding that there was need to constantly check what was going on in the country and not waiting until something serious happened.
“I hope that we are going to strengthen our own surveillance system so that we will be perpetually in a state of preparedness not only on one occasion,” he said.
Dr Kasonde thanked AVIC International, which he described as a longstanding friend, for the gesture and was hopeful that the collaboration that Zambia and China had been enjoying for 50 years could be strengthened further.
Chinese Ambassador to Zambia Yang Youming said the donation was worth celebrating as the Thermal Scanner would come in handy in the fight against Ebola and that AVIC International’s gesture was a demonstration of the friendship from the Chinese community in Zambia.
AVIC International civilian representative Xu Fei said the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport donation had brought the total Thermal Scanners donation cost to $60,000 following a similar donation at Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport in Ndola
This is very encouraging however protective gear alone with some scanners does not make us ready to deal with this deadly virus. We need to prepare isolation units in every part of the country and sensitise healthcare workers and the people on how to handle this deadly virus. The idea of mobile clinics could be extended to mobile isolation units which could be rapidly deployed to an area should an outbreak occur. These are encouraging small steps but let’s not get carried away. Ebola is lethal.
isolation units, mobile clinics, deployment,etc are all preparations for treatment. why not invest more in prevention? prevention is better than cure.
Good! Now you are getting prepared, not the time you wanted to recall that Kasolo from WHO or such other int orgns, for highlighting the risk, as part of the process of the risk management. Now you have designed what you consider to be adequate mitigating controls for the risk; not then. Please keep listening and being open to such warnings!
Iwe observer isn’t preparations for treatment a way of preventing you from dying or infecting others? read the headline properly ala. It says “Health Minister declares Zambia’s readiness to tackle the deadly Ebola” the keyword is “readiness”, meaning we are prepared to deal with Ebola. The argument here should therefore be Yes we are prepared or No, we need to do more rather than just yapping rubbish. We know prevention is better than cure but your statement is irrelevant towards this article.
@ebo, Uli chikopo. Preventing infection is cheaper than preventing death. If your death is prevented after being infected, you have already consumed medicine, time, bed space, been unable to work, etc
@Scoccer Fan so how do you prevent movement of people you 1d10t? Are you going to put soldiers at every entry point in the country? learn to read and articulate galu iwe. If you can’t grasp issues I suggest you shut up!
@ebo, kindly read posts before commenting on them. Your hasty, shallow and abusive comments could easily give an impression that you are low calibre. I hope you are not.
@Observer, so how do you prevent an outbreak? If you don’t take steps to prepare.
@Fr33dom, your recommendations are all about preparing for treatment and not preparing for prevention. what you are recommending is good for people who are already infected. but more investment should be to prevent that infection in the first place.
How are we going to stop the Ebola virus when people who are desperate for prophecy continue sneaking in to Nigeria.Though Nigeria discharged the last patient last week,the risk remains high.
What were 300 South Africans doing in Nigeria with such a high risk around?See what has now happened?
A week went by ,the SCOAN were quiet about the collapse of the building and when news came they became offensive .Is that the way a Christian organization is supposed to conduct itself?
poor thinking,prevention is better than cure,why not stopping those people from west africa not to come to zambia,zambia is poorly equipped in terms of medicine human resource,dont start the fire you cant extinguish
@observer, you can not stop people from traveling entirely. Until a cure found, taking measures to prevent an outbreak is a sensible thing to do. You have Zambian families in west Africa. We share borders with a country known to have had an outbreak. How you deal with an outbreak of Ebola makes all the difference for now. Your prevention idea is near Impossible.
iwe @Fr33dom, observer did not write about banning people from traveling. Prevention can be done in so many ways. Check the WHO website.
Please leave ebola alone. Why are you busy challenging it daily daily. If you are ready then fine.
Prevention is usually cheap and for diseases like this one the large component is good personal hygiene and public health awareness. So stop littering your leftovers, use proper toilets and stop scratching your balls before you shake hands!
Five mo ths after the fact…..well done….Read my previous comments. Clueless. Thermal scanners LOL ..it a thermometer.
Why allow people who may be carrying this killer disease to enter a country that is already plagued by illness and disease. If ebola enters Zambia, with our poor water and sanitation facilities, an entire generation will be wiped out.
Ba Kasonde be serious! Mulichinangwa?!!! Look at UTH and other poor health facilities for heavens sake and save the people from more suffering. We have already been certified as suffering from malnutrition, high levels of drunkenness and leading in HIV. Do we need the Ebola TAG as well?????