Bird Flu: How the US
prepares for it, by Nigerian journalist just back from America
By
Segun Ajiboye
Sunday,
February 11,
2006
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•Photo:
Sun News Publishing
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The death, last week in Lagos, of a 23-year-old woman who
allegedly tested positive to the deadly H5N1 strain of avian flu virus has brought
home to Nigeria, the reality of its deadliness.
It was the first recorded death
from the deadly virus in sub-Saharan Africa since it first surfaced in the country
a little over a year ago.
Expectedly, the incident jolted health officials
across the country into action. While a two-man expert team from the World Health
Organization (WHO) flew into the country to help fashion out an action plan to
help curtail the outbreak, the Federal Government too has taken steps to stem
the scourge.
Experts are however, expressing fears that the measures so
far taken, if not properly coordinated, may give rise to a pandemic.
According
to the experts, the ability of the virus to mutate in human beings could lead
to human-to-human transmission.
More worrisome is the level of awareness
among Nigerians on the dangers of avian flu and how to combat its spread. The
lack of a clear-cut action plan by the government and relevant agencies is of
concern to Nigerians.
The lesson from SARS and other outbreaks are still
fresh on the minds of people around the world.
World bodies like the WHO,
World Bank and countries like the US are already taking steps to arrest the situation.
The World Bank is playing the role of a convener and is working closely with affected
countries, the UN System Co-ordinator, WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health.
A recent document by
the US government raised alarm on the impact of a pandemic in developing countries.
According to the report, such pandemic could be severe, with mortality rates doubling
those in the advanced countries and an even higher GDP loss.
Though it
has not recorded any case of bird flu, the US has taken bold steps to counter
any eventual outbreak. Part of the effort was a recent two-week trip organized
for Nigerian health reporters to the US to learn first-hand, series of activities
put in place by the government and other related agencies to ward off the deadly
influenza from reaches its shores.
African Independent Television (AIT)
health correspondent, Hadiza Olasebikan was on the trip and in this exclusive
interview with Sunday Sun, shares her experience, concerns and
worries.
The trip
The US government organized the trip
and all the agencies involved in the avian flu programme. They wanted us to come
and see what they have put in place to prevent avian influenza from getting into
the US. The aim was that we too could come back and implement in our own country.
The
US has an ambassador for avian influenza. He is in charge of policies and the
prevention of avian influenza from coming into the US and working with other countries
around the world to help implement and prevent avian influenza.
Lessons
of the trip
The trip was an eye opener for me. Before now, I’d
never thought of the day I will not having chickens in my backyard. But now, I
have learnt that we have to curtail all this to prevent the spread of the virus.
You know how our people in the villages handle their poultry everyday. How do
I now tell my granny that it is dangerous for her to handle these birds, that
she cannot keep the birds that she has been keeping for ages? But the truth is,
we have to do away with all these practices in order to curtail the spread of
the virus.
Also, despite the fact that there is no reported case of the
virus in the US, they are already making moves to do something. Their fear is
the possibility of a pandemic. The scientists have discovered that the virus can
mutate from human-to-human. They claimed that it would be worse than the flu pandemic
of 1918.
But because there is no vaccine for this one, and you cannot
make a vaccine until there is a disease, which may take months, they are taking
every step to prevent it from happening.
I found out that the Americans have
a very good security system. Any poultry coming into the US, whether through the
ports or airports, they have officers of the agriculture ministry who would quarantine
the poultry for a period. Any egg would be tested. Any dead chicken would be tested
to ascertain the cause.
Aside that, they know all the farms in the country.
Their activities are well controlled and you cannot just bring any bird into the
country without permission.
Activities in the US
We
were in the US for two weeks. We were taken to the Ellis Island. They wanted to
show us how they handled the flu of 1918. Back then, all immigrants coming into
the US came in through the port. If you were found to be sick, you’ll not
be allowed to disembark from the ship. The sick were quarantined. So, while the
flu pandemic was killing people all over the world, there was no single reported
case in the US. It is the same thing they are doing now for bird flu. We were
at the World Bank where we met the economic adviser and the man in charge of avian
flu pandemic. We went to the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), where we saw all
they are doing to combat the virus.
Is Nigeria prepared?
Yes,
we have a preparedness plan. The UN System Co-ordinator, David Nabarro, was here
in Nigeria and they are training Nigerian scientists to combat the outbreak. Having
said that, we have a lot to do in Nigeria. First, we have to equip our laboratory.
Unfortunately, the only one we know of is the one in Jos. Again, let’s ask
ourselves, is there enough awareness? For example, if I see a dead bird, where
do I take it? Would I go to the state government or the local government to report?
What should be done
We need to take a cue from the
US. The government needs to create awareness about the virus. The general public
needs to be informed on the dangers of avian flu. The government and its agencies
need to know all the farms in the country. What that means is that they should
have a record of all the farms in the country. That would assist us in monitoring
the activities of these farms. Secondly, there should be better-equipped laboratories
across the country. All of them should be linked together on the network to share
information at all time.
We also need to decentralize our system. The
local government offices need to set up offices where reports can be made by anybody.
The farmers should be compelled to have protective garments for the staff that
oversee the birds. It is these people that are exposed to the birds. At the end
of the day, they go home to play with their wives and kids
More importantly,
the government should pay compensation to farmers whose birds are destroyed. Once
you kill their birds, you must be willing to pay them some money. Remember in
Kano, some farmers slaughtered some sick birds and took them to the market to
sell. Such practice is very dangerous. To forestall a repeat, the government should
take care of the losses suffered by the farmers.
In the country, people die
and nobody tries to find out the cause of death. We should endeavour to carry
out autopsy on our dead.
That would reveal the cause of death of such
person. Believe me, all these things are very important if we are serious about
effort to tackle the scourge. Imagine if people have been dying of avian flu,
which has similar symptoms with seasonal flu, and we just assumed that it was
natural and we buried them without finding out the cause of death. To be honest
with you, I don’t know the fate of the people in the villages. If people
in a city like Lagos are still largely ignorant of the virus, how do you then
describe what would happen in the villages? |
