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Dr Parirenyatwa

David Shumba Health Reporter
Government has set up a national Ebola viral disease taskforce to monitor the spread of the deadly epidemic.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa told journalists yesterday that the taskforce would evaluate the risk of an Ebola outbreak and advise the Government on appropriate measures to mitigate its impact.
He said the goal of the inter-ministerial taskforce comprising the Ministries of Health and Child Care, Transport and Infrastructural Development, Home Affairs, and Tourism and Hospitality Industry was to support global efforts to contain the spread of the disease and provide a co-ordinated national and international response for the travel and tourism sector.

“The taskforce has been set up as part of strategies on Ebola alertness, preparedness and response,” Dr Parirenyatwa said.
“Though we don’t have Ebola in the country, we shall strategise ways to counter this deadly virus. Zimbabweans travel across the world and this is a critical area that needs to be addressed.”

Dr Parirenyatwa said the taskforce will learn from countries that had already been affected.
“We are privileged that the deadly virus did not start with us, so the taskforce will learn from countries already under attack.”

He said isolation centres have been set up countrywide with the support of the World Health Organisation which provided protective clothing to use in case of an outbreak.

On August 8, WHO declared a global public health emergency over the outbreak of Ebola, a deadly and highly contagious virus which has spread since the beginning of the year from Guinea to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

Concerns over air travel were heightened as the outbreak in Nigeria was traced back to an ill traveller who flew from Liberia and infected contacts in Lagos.
Health experts say the Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the most severe in recorded history since it has taken long to control.

The first-known outbreak of Ebola was reported in Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, in 1976.