We’ll keep Ebola out of Jozi, vows MMC Molwele
04-12-2014
The City of Johannesburg is remaining vigilant against Ebola, a haemorrhagic fever that has claimed more than 6 000 lives in West Africa over the past few months.
This forms part of the City’s Department of Health and Social Development’s comprehensive festive season plan to deal with communicable diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, cholera, meningitis and bilharzia.
Johannesburg has been on high alert since the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa earlier this year.
Member of the Mayoral Committee for Health and Social Development Councillor Nonceba Molwele says the department has for the past few months been hard at work raising Ebola awareness by distributing pamphlets about the disease.
The pamphlets also contain answers to frequently asked questions. The information has also been translated into Portuguese, French and Swahili to ensure greater reach.
All local government health facilities have guidelines on how to tackle a possible Ebola outbreak.
Traditional healers and leaders of faith-based organisations have also been briefed on the dos and don’ts of dealing with suspected and confirmed cases of Ebola.
“Traditional healers and leaders of faith-based organisations form part of our stakeholders. They need to know how to protect themselves and those they attend to,” says MMC Molwele.
“We have already conducted citywide briefing sessions. Private and City ambulance staff, environmental health workers, undertakers, clerks and cleaners know what to do. All the city’s seven regions have been briefed and this will cascade down to all employees. Every consulting room has guidelines on how to deal with a possible outbreak of Ebola. We have standard operating procedures as well.”
Mary Daka, the department’s Deputy Director of Public Health, says Jozi Ihlokomele fieldworkers have visited households to educate and train people on what to do. Ward-based outreach teams and community information outlets such as spaza shops are being used to distribute the pamphlets, she says.
“The city has a plan in place to respond [to an outbreak of Ebola],” says Daka.
The plan has been discussed and shared with various stakeholders. It has also been presented to Executive Mayor Parks Tau’s office, cluster departments and committees. Information is updated every Thursday and regularly sent to officials and employees through emails and the COJ’s messaging system.
“We use various channels to make sure people are aware of where we are so they don’t panic. It is important to emphasise, though, that there have been no cases of Ebola in the country. But in the event that there is, the Minister of Health, [Dr Aaron Motsoaledi] will make the announcement,” she says. “We are not immune to Ebola [and other communicable diseases].
“To test the readiness of our systems, we conducted drills at the Joubert Park and Alexandra East Bank clinics. The drills were successful. We want every facility to be ready just in case. Every Friday until January we will randomly pick clinics to check readiness,” Daka says.
“We’ve developed a checklist and our nurses are very knowledgeable. They know what to do. We’ve procured the most important thing: protective clothing for all facilities – five different sizes at each facility. We also have gloves, thermostats, masks and Jik.”