Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

Community Outbreak

1. Communicable Disease

Ebola virus is the communicable disease of my choice with a record of an outbreak across international borders.

1. Description of the Ebola Virus Outbreak

Ebola virus is a rare disease but also among the most deadly known to humanity. Ebola virus has had numerous outbreaks causes several deaths across the world. In addition, Ebola virus is caused by the infection of the genus Ebolavirus. Patients suffering from Ebola virus present with different patients. Ebola virus infection progresses through the dry and wet phase. Muscle pain, sore throat, intense weakness, headache, fever and sore throat are the major signs during the dry phase (Bell, 2016). The wet phase on the other hand presents with impaired liver, rash, impaired kidneys, vomiting and diarrhea. Some patients experienced external and internal bleeding at the final stage of the disease if it goes untreated.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

ORDER  HERE A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

According to Cancedda et al (2016), the Ebola virus outbreak affected some parts of Europe, America, and Africa. The most affected countries by the Ebola virus outbreak were Liberia, Sierra Leone, and guinea. The number of countries that were affected by the Ebola virus pandemic were 19 globally, with most of them coming from Africa. West Africa countries were the most hit countries hence the origin of the term West Africa Ebola epidemic.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

The first case of Ebola virus outbreak was discovered in 1976 in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo). A second outbreak was also discovered in 850km away from the Ebola River at South Sudan. The Ebola virus outbreak originated from two genetically different sources the Sudan ebolavirus and Zaire ebolavirus. However, according to epidemiologic and viral data, Ebola virus existed even before the outbreak. The outbreak was enhanced by several factors including interaction with the wild animals directly, population growth and encroachment in the forested areas (Coltart et al, 2017).Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis. Since the first outbreak of Ebola virus, the world has experienced at least one case of Ebola virus for the last 44 years. Amongst all the Ebola virus outbreak that have occurred, the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak was the most fatal. The 2014-2016 pandemic occurred in West Africa along Southeastern Guinea. Due to poor public health infrastructure and weak surveillance, containment of the Ebola virus outbreak at the Guinea borders became hard leading to further spread of the virus to Sierra Leone and Liberia.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

Ebola virus was declared a pandemic officially in West Africa by the WHO (World Health Organization) on 23^rd March, 2014. At the time of the pandemic declaration Ebola virus had already claimed 29 people and had infected 49 people (Bell, 2016). Through massive tracing and surveillance, epidemiologists and experts traced the first case (Coltart et al, 2017). The first case was a young boy who had infected by a bat in December 2013. Liberia reported the first case on 31^st march 2014 while the first case in Sierra Leone was reported on 27^th May the same year. Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.The virus further spread to other countries including Nigeria on 30^th July, Senegal on 31^st august, America on 28^th September, Spain 12^th October, Mali 2^nd November, and united kingdom 29^th December in 2014. Italy was also among the affected countries where the first case was discovered on 13^th May in the year 2015. World Health organization declared the outbreak a public health emergency globally since the spread of the virus was so massive and required global concern. Between 2014 and 2016, the West Africa Ebola epidemic had infected more than 28,637 and also claimed 11,314 deaths. Finally, the health workers had applied all the medical interventions to curb the outbreak and by 9^th June, the virus was declared over.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

B1. Analysis of Epidemiological Determinants and Risk factors Associated with the Outbreak

            The 2014-2016 outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa was aggravated by several risk factors including, a new context an old disease, overreliance on traditional healers, high movement across the borders, and shortage of healthcare workers.   Previously, West Africa had never experienced an Ebola virus outbreak and when the first case appeared, it was misdiagnosed to a viral hemorrhagic fever (Cancedda et al, 2016). Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.Clinicians and medical professionals took several months before making the right diagnosis to the disease. Therefore, when the right diagnosis was made the Ebola virus had spread and crossed to other countries beyond the Guinea borders.  In addition, West Africa countries were unfamiliar with the Ebola virus disease right from the onset, to its presentation as well as how to manage the disease. Medical professionals in West Africa had not previously handled any Ebola virus case and the laboratories didn’t have the right regimen to test the virus. In addition, governments in West Africa countries had never witnessed economic and social turmoil that come along with a disease outbreak.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

Secondly, West Africa is known to overly rely on traditional healers even prior to the outbreak. Inaccessibility to government healthcare facilities has made traditional herbalists a platform to treat moat of the diseases (Crook et al, 2016). Most upsurges during the pandemic were related to cases who previously got help from the traditional herbalist before seeking medical intervention. The community in West Africa also perceive hospital buildings more like places because they are hidden behind high fences.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

In addition, West Africa is known to have the highest movement across the porous borders. Mobility across the borders in West Africa is the highest in the world at seven times higher. The high mobility rate is cause by poverty levels in West African countries. People keep moving in search for food and employment opportunities. Due to the high movement rate, most West African families have relatives in other countries (Coltart et al, 2017). Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.Therefore, the population mobility made it hard for the public health officers to contain the Ebola virus outbreak. Tracing of cases was difficult because people were always on the move. In addition, communities in West Africa believe in burying their loved ones in their ancestral land. Therefore, whenever a person died in another country, they had to be moved to their motherland thus exposing the population to further infections.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

Prior to the Ebola virus outbreak the doctors in West Africa were overworked with almost one doctor handling more than 100,000 population. The workload even became higher because a number of health workers were infected by the virus and some even lost their lives. Curbing further spread of the disease became harder because some patients would even go back home unattended to (Cancedda et al, 2016). In addition, the diagnostic process took long because the healthcare workers were very few. The longer it took diagnose a patient the riskier it became for further spread of the virus.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

B2. Route of Transmission

            The transmission of Ebola virus happens when a person comes into directly contacted with body fluids and blood of an infected person. Body fluids like sweat, semen, vomit, diarrhea and urine of an infected person contain the virus. In addition, Ebola is transmitted through coming into contact with surfaces and objects with contamination caused by fluids and blood from an infected person. Infection from one person to another only happens when the infected person has started showing the Ebola virus symptoms. However, Ebola cannot be spread through casual contact, food, water or air. Transmission of Ebola virus also comes from infected animals or animals that died from the virus (Cancedda, 2016).Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis. The animal carrying the Ebola virus have not been discovered yet but it has been found in apes, bats and monkeys. Therefore, it is necessary to keep a distance from already infected persons to avoid further spread of the virus.  However, for an individual to transmit the Ebola virus to other people, they must develop Ebola symptoms, been in contact with body fluids and blood of an already infected person and also should have stayed in the area where Ebola disease is occurring for 21 days.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

B3. Impact on my Community at a Systems Level

Ebola virus outbreak in my area would be a devastating experience to the community since it would have adverse impact on us. There is only one heath facility in our area serving a population of about 20,000 persons. Therefore, an Ebola virus outbreak would strain the community because very few people will get the attention of the healthcare workers. The health facility at our area is not fully equipped. In addition the caregivers at the hospital are understaffed. The bed capacity at the health center in our area is about 150 beds for inpatient patients. Specialized services are not offered in the health facility meaning an Ebola virus outbreak would mean health menace in the community. Many people will end up losing their lives and families will lose their loved ones because accessing medical help will be limited.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

The health facility in our region will therefore require to be fully prepared with adequate medical supplies, intensive training of the health care workers and enough personal protective gears. The management at the hospital will also be required to recruit more healthcare staffs to manage the surge of the infections in the area. Due to the large influx at the hospital, the caregivers will be required to extend their working hours with at least 2hours daily. The healthcare workers will also undergo counselling to overcome the fear that will come along with the chaotic environment.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

Schools in the community will be expected to close to stop further spread of the disease. In addition, the healthcare workers can use the schools as centers for triage, treatment, isolation, and probably quarantine. Local business at the region will be expected to minimize the number of operation hours or to fully close their businesses until the pandemic is contained. The local authorities will also be expected to conduct mapping activities of the infected persons to prevent more transmissions.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

B4. Reporting Protocol

            A reporting protocol will be adopted in the community should an Ebola virus outbreak happen in my community. The reporting will start with a chain of command that will facilitate the protocol for reporting. Assuming the patients first sought help from the health center in the area, doctors at the emergency room should be the first to report of a suspected infectious disease to the surveillance officer in the hospital. According to Coltart et al (2017The surveillance officer will then call for an emergency meeting to determine the right diagnosis of the infectious disease. Once the team has determined the condition of the infectious disease, the chief medical officer will be notified about the outbreak.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

The chief medical officer will then be expected to report the case to the chief executive officer in the hospital who will then notify the county state health officer (Crook et al, 2016). The county state health officer will then report to the department of health in the national government. The department of health in the country will then be expected to report the outbreak to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Eventually CDC will report the outbreak to World Health Organization (WHO). After reporting to the World Health Organization, the department of health will be given the mandate to make a public address about the disease outbreak.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

B5. Strategies to Prevent an Outbreak

            Transmission for Ebola virus is high and will therefore require strategies to prevent the outbreak and further spread as well (Crook et al, 2016). Precautions and strategies to put into place to prevent an outbreak would therefore include, avoiding bush meat, frequently washing hands, staying at home, avoiding contact with infected people as well as following the set rules to stop further spread of the disease.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.

In addition, the public health officers will be expected to publicly share the information about Ebola virus. Informing the public about the symptoms and the incubation period of the Ebola virus and when to seek medical will be very necessary. Screening should be done on the admission to the hospital both at the triage and the doctor’s desk (Bell, 2016).Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis. The doctors should also hold patient education at the hospital level on what is expected of them after and before treatment to reduce the chances of further spread. The public health officers should also form a committee that will include community leaders, local business elders and other healthcare workers. The committee will make major decisions on the logistics on how to get enough supplies at the hospital. Lastly, the committee formed will notify the public statistics about the extent of the disease outbreak.Strengthening health systems while responding to a Health Outbreak Crisis.