An Ebola outbreak almost ruined CHOGM. The deadly hemorrhagic fever became known in August 2007 in Bundibugyo district, but the Ministry of Health didn’t confirm the outbreak until after CHOGM and there were reports that health officials hushed it up not to scare away the guests.
Close to 40 people died of Ebola and about 150 were infected in Bundibugyo. The disease sparked panic among health workers when a doctor died after he got infected while on duty. This was a new strain, the fifth to be recorded by Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, USA.
Just across the border from Bundibugyo, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo health officials there said Ebola had killed several people in the country. It wasn’t until February 20, 2008 that the World Health Organisation finally declared Uganda free of Ebola.Â
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Late 2007, as Ebola spread in the west, in West Nile bubonic plague struck Nebbi and Arua. Bubonic plague is spread to humans through contact with rats infested with fleas. The plague was contained early this year but broke out again in the same place last month. Another deadly disease, Hepatitis E, broke out in Kitgum district in October 2007 and is yet to be contained. The disease eventually spread to the districts of Pader, Gulu, Amuru, and Adjumani. The Hepatitis E virus spreads by intake of food and water contaminated with feaces. It has killed about 120 people and infected 8,000.
Poor sanitation – lack of pit latrines and unsafe drinking water from unprotected sources intensified the problem. A double tragedy for people in transit from internally displaced peoples camps, after a long war by the Lords Resistance Army, to their villages. Because of overcrowding in internally displaced peoples camps and transit sites, in some places more than 100 people share one latrine.
At a guess, some people use the bushes if the queue is long. At the onset of heavy rains, the dirt is washed into water sources and the disease spreads. The outbreak of Hepatitis E exposed the fraudulence of some of the hundreds of NGOs in northern Uganda that claim to be building latrines and setting up safe water sources. As it turned out, the people are living in deplorable conditions and not much has been done on the ground. Instead, many NGOs are in the north to enrich themselves!
And then of course we had yet another cholera outbreak, which comes during the rain season and mostly hits the Kampala slums of Kawempe, Kalerwe, Kamwokya and Kisenyi. Though health officials seem to know the cause, period and the places most affected by the disease, there are no lessons learnt.  Â
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:!: :?: :idea: :arrow: joe mama is mean!!!!!
