Ebola threats: North West prepares effective response

Threats of the Ebola virus are real and proximity to affected Nigeria does not help matters in the North West region.

It is against this backdrop that the region has been mobilised to rise to expectation in the case of any Ebola attack. That was the subject of an emergency crisis meeting involving stakeholders in Bamenda on August 14.

In the chair, Governor Adolphe Lele Lafrique dismissed rumours of the virus in the North West region. It was all about setting records straight with sensitization, education and facts about the Ebola virus.

A contingency plan was unveiled to ensure that in the case of an attack, Ebola will meet a region that is ready to face it.

It was the Regional Delegate of Public Health, Dr Victor Ndiforchu who revealed that health personnel have been trained to receive and manage cases of the virus while other actors have been stationed at the borders of the region to determine, detect and report suspect cases.

Surveillance, vigilance and information sharing are passwords of the Regional Contingency plan which equally advises communicators to stop spreading misleading information.

The governor of the region is the Coordinator of the plan and expects all information to transit through him for proper handling.

It emerged from the sensitization session that the virus is not airborne. It is a lethal disease basically transmitted from animals, especially fruit bats to man. In the short and long of it, Ebola is a killer.