Global Health

This is a reaction essay to Cholera in sierra Leone the field of study study of an outbreak retrieved from According to A. D. A. M. Medical Encyclopedia,Cholera is an infection of the slight intestine that causes a large amount of body of watery diarrhea. Cholera is caused by the bacterium Vibrio plaguey plaguey cholerae. The bacteria releases a toxin that causes increased release of water from cells in the intestines, which produces surd diarrhea (National Institute of Health ,U.S. National subroutine library of Medicine The gentlemans Largest Medical program library,A. D. A. M. Medical Encyclopedia, May thirtieth 2012). If left untreated, it pile kill within hours and almost octettey percent of display cases skunk be successfully treated with oral rehydration salts. People get infected by eating or drinking contaminated food and water and it commonly manifests in coiffures with unretentive sanitation, crowding, war, and famine like Africa, Asia, India, Mexico a nd South and Central America. The avail sufficientness of safe drinking water and comme il faut sanitation is critical in reducing the impact of cholera and separate waterborne diseases.Oral cholera vaccinum in addition cut outs the risk of death by fifty percent . sierra Leone, a West Afri substructure rude that has been ravaged by wars for long time , experienced the worst Cholera outbreak in fifteen years. As of september 19th of this year, 19000 cases and 274 deaths accept been reported. It was unusual for the Cholera outbreaks to occur in February , the middle of the dry season because most cholera outbreaks take place in the rainy season. At the onset of the cholera outbreak, the Ministry of Health and sanitization, WHO , UNICEF and Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium worked unitedly to detect, confirm ,treat and prevent the cholera outbreak .But when it started raining in June, cholera spread rapidly and by August, 2000 cases were reported per week. The Ministry of Healt h and Sanitation have also set up a network for each(prenominal) wellness focuss to report daily cases of outbreaks and have been on the job(p) with WHO and partners in spreading messages almost safe drinking water, die washing and food preparation. WHO has also brought in additional experts in epidemiology, surveillance, logistics, social mobilization, water and sanitation from other WHO farming offices and set up a Cholera command and control centre.Inspite of all these efforts, there is a severe shortage of oral rehydration salts and they be expecting 32 000 cases in this outbreak. * - ? The health of a country is often ground on infant and mother morbidity and mortality rates (GCH-205-DL2, staff 4, Lauren Savaglio). In 2007, sierra Leone had the highest level of child mortality in the world. paternal mortality is also one of the highest in the world. One in eight women risk dying during pregnancy and childbirth. The infant mortality rate of Sierra Leone is 123 death s per 1000 live births in 2009 .Babies born in Sierra Leone in 2005 had a manner expectancy of only 38 years. So it cornerstone be said that public health is generally poor in Sierra Leone. Epidemiology is the study of the distribution and causes of health and illness in populations (Jacobsen,p. 7). In the case of the cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone, the infections started in the westbound argona of the country where the capital, Freetown, is located. Cholera outbreaks usually occur in the rainy season but the outbreak in Sierra Leone started in February which is in the middle of the dry month.According to World Health Organization, Cholera is an extremely acidulous disease. It affects both children and adults and can kill within hours. About 75% of commonwealth infected with V. cholerae do not develop any symptoms, although the bacteria are present in their faeces for 714 days after(prenominal) infection and are shed back into the environment, potentially infecting other pot. Among people who develop symptoms, 80% have mild or moderate symptoms, epoch around 20% develop acute watery diarrhoea with severe dehydration. This can lead to death if untreated.People with low immunity such as malnourished children or people living with HIV are at a greater risk of death if infected (National Institute of health ,U. S. National Library of Medicine The Worlds Largest Medical Library,A. D. A. M. Medical Encyclopedia, May 30th 2012). Therefore the risk factors of transmission of Cholera in a development country like Sierra Leone is very high since there is no adequate environ affable management and no minimum requirements for clean drinking water and sanitation. Like Jacobsen states in the textbook, Introduction to Global Health, eep in nous socioeconomic, political, behavioral, and environmental risk factors that contribute to creating the context in which the disease occurs(Jacobsen,p. 13). * - Since cholera causes dehydration, the disease is treated using oral rehydration therapy (ORT), which is radicalally a stem made with water, prick and salts. They can be bought as prepackaged mixtures or can also be made at home by combining clean, boiled 1 litre of water with 8 teaspoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of salt.But sometimes, severe cases of cholera require intravenous suave replacement. Antibiotics can shorten illness, but should salvage be used in combination with the Oral Rehydration Therapy. The most basic way of preventing cholera is make sure communities prone to these epidemics have access to clean water and straitlaced sanitation . Communities should also be educated around the importance of proper hygiene like hand-washing with soap after using the restroom and ahead cooking or eating . They should also be educated about safe handling , preparation and storage of food .Media such as radio, television or newspapers and even community and religious leaders can also be effective in spreading health raising message s. And at times, early detection of the outbreak and timely provisions of give-and-take , like in the Sierra Leone case, is also necessary to reduce the compute of deaths. * - I think, at the onset of the outbreak, Sierra Leones Ministry of Health and Sanitation did a great job in working with the government and other health sectors to confirm the outbreak of the disease even though the country has very few resources and capacity.With the help of WHO, the Ministry of Health and Sanitation and partners including UNICEF and Medecins Sans Frontieres-Belgium was also able to detect, treat and prevent the spread of cholera. They also set up a cholera command and control centre and trained health workers in cholera treatment and prevention. They were successful in reducing the number of outbreaks to fewer than 40 per week but when the rainy season started in June, the epidemic spread rapidly to other districts and the number of cases arose to 2000 per week. But it should be mention th at in Freetown, where the first outbreak occurred, there has been ignificant reduction of cases. WHOs example in Sierra Leone, Dr Wondimagegnehu Alemu, states that many villages affected by the epidemic still face a shortage of Oral Rehydration Therapy solution, the most effective and life saving treatment for an outbreak like this. The cholera epidemic in Sierra Leone made me realize how health inequalities does exist between the poor and rich population and how even with improved prevention and therapeutic techniques, infective diseases continue to be health risk in all populations (Jacobsen,p. 1). It is also evident that the Socioeconomic status (SES) of Sierra Leone has played a study role in the cause and prevention of this cholera epidemic. Like Dr. Alemu mentioned in the article, an outbreak like this is a major crisis for a country with a fragile health system recovering from several years of encroach (Health topicsCholera in Sierra Leone the case study of an outbreak W orld Health Organization, family line 2012). But looking at the bright side, Dr Eugene Lam, epidemic intelligence service officer from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (USA) working for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative,states that Messages about safe drinking water, hand washing and food preparation will not only reduce the cholera infections but also reduce all diarrhoeal disease, a big killer of children under-five in Sierra Leone (Health topicsCholera in Sierra Leone the case study of an outbreak World Health Organization, September 2012). Jacobsen states in the preface to the textbook If health is a human right, then basic health care and protection from preventable diseases should be available to all people , regardless of the condition that have made them vulnerable to illness, disability, and ill-timed death (Jacobsen,preface xi). I only hope one day by working together as a global community , we can make sure every single human being, irrespective o f their socioeconomic status , can achieve a state of complete physical, mental and social well- being (Jacobsen). * - - * - References * - Health topicsCholera in Sierra Leone the case study of an outbreak World Health Organization, September 2012. Retrieved from http//www. who. int/features/2012/cholera_sierra_leone/en/index. hypertext markup language on September 30th,2012. * - National Institute of health ,U. S. National Library of Medicine The Worlds Largest Medical Library,A. D. A. M. Medical Encyclopedia, May 30th 2012 . Retrieved from www. ncbi. nlm. nih. ov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001348/ on September 30th,2012 * - * - Health statistics of Sierra LeoneWorld Health Organization,2012. Retrieved from http//www. who. int/countries/sle/en/index. hypertext markup language on september 30th, 2012 . * - * - Introduction to Global Health, Kathryn H. Jacobsen . * - * - GCH-205-DL2 (FALL 2012), Module 4, Lauren Savaglio.