In the face of an Ebola outbreak that is currently wreaking havoc in West Africa and has so far killed close to 5 000 people, Zimbabweans are generally concerned about the virus and would like to know how safe the country is from an outbreak similar to the one Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone are experiencing.
Chipo Masara (CM) of The Standard had a wide-ranging interview with Dr Timothy Stamps (DTS), a former health minister who is currently serving as President Robert Mugabe’s Health Advisor, on the subject of Ebola, among other issues. Below are excerpts from the interview.
CM: Doctor Stamps, considering the way the Ebola virus is wreaking havoc in West Africa; do you think Zimbabweans know all they need to about the virus to be on the lookout? DTS: I think we are making the same mistake as other continents in the world. We are not Liberia, we are not Sierra Leone, we are not Guinea, and we are not even DRC. We are Zimbabwe, so the situation is different.
CM: How is it different? DTS: Well, Ebola, or any other haemorrhagic virus, works by first of all infesting a colony of small mammals. There has to be a reservoir [person, animal, plant or substance in which an infectious agent normally lives and multiplies]. It doesn’t naturally occur in human beings; we have to get that clear from the onset. That is why it is regarded as a disease and not a condition. The hype which has been created is because of the size of the outbreak. The environment has to be correct for the breeding of the reservoir and also, the target human beings have to be sufficient in numbers in that environment to get an epidemic of the disease. Take HIV and Aids for example, it was known, I think, in the 1960s but it never affected us [Zimbabweans]. In fact, we didn’t even think about it until it caused an outbreak here, because of our misinterpretation of traditional values, and also because of the adaptation of the virus itself.
CM: Doctor, are you saying the Ebola virus cannot adapt to the Zimbabwean environment? DTS: It can. But at the moment, from what I can discern, it cannot because we haven’t got the total conditions. We don’t have the heavy rainfall or the rain forests except in Victoria Falls and some parts around the country.
CM: But what are we doing as a country to be certain that the virus does not invade Zimbabwe? DTS: I think the most important thing is to get on the same wavelength, or what they say, “sing from one hymn book” . . . If we don’t do that, all we get are the strange reactions, as in the case of the Americans, who are spending millions of dollars — which are not theirs, they are borrowed anyway — building Ebola institutions in Liberia, which was and still is their colony . . . Liberia was their colony so they feel guilty about not providing adequate health care for the blacks living there. I think the efforts we have been making are more than enough to prevent the initial occurrence of the infection.
CM: Would you care to share these efforts? DTS: Ebola, like any other haemorrhagic virus, causes its spreading in human beings by person-to-person contact, not by airborne contact like Sars [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] or flu, or respiratory things like that. So we know it isn’t really necessary for the doctors to dress up like space men…If it’s not airborne, why do we need the goggles, masks and head gear? Either we are being told lies, or we are being sold a very expensive issue of clothing. In fact, the heavy clothing causes people to sweat, and we know the virus may be contracted through sweat.
CM: You believe protective gear is not necessary? DTS: Not only [is it] not necessary, it may in fact enhance the risk of causing the infection.
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CM: What preventive measures do you think we need to take? DTS: The basic thing is the no-touch technique between health provider and patient… It is fundamental.
CM: Doctor, considering that many people in Zimbabwe use public transport, how safe will it be to travel in kombis for instance in the case of an Ebola outbreak? DTS: It won’t change because of the Ebola outbreak. Liberia is as far from Zimbabwe as London is from Liberia and you don’t hear of an outbreak in the UK even though the distance is the same.
CM: There are reports that Zimbabwe’s entry points are porous… DTS: I agree. We have got 21 approved entry points and we can’t even man those with health workers 24 hours, seven days a week, let alone all the informal entry points.
CM: What should be happening at the entry points? DTS: Nothing, we only want to monitor…If a traveller says ‘Yes, I have been to an infected country’, we monitor that person for 21 days, which we know to be the maximum incubation period. If they have no symptoms during that time, we notify the country they are going to.
CM: But have we been doing that? DTS: We have been doing it through Harare but not through Bulawayo.
CM: Considering that, how can we be sure that Ebola isn’t already in the country? DTS: The other factor is the fear factor. You know JF Kennedy used to say, ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself’. It is the fear itself which produces an electrical reaction. [With the] previous outbreaks, nothing was done, and there has been over 12 of those.
CM: There are fears that Ebola might already be in Zimbabwe and the Health ministry is covering it up. DTS: As far as I know, there is not.
CM: What would you tell Zimbabweans that are living in fear of the virus? DTS: Don’t be scared. We are completely open.
CM: Doctor, if there is a suspected Ebola case, are we now able to conduct our own tests or are we still sending samples to neighbouring South Africa for testing? DTS: I think it would only take two days . . . It’s enough doing it through South Africa.
CM: Has there been a budget set aside for Ebola monitoring and to raise awareness? DTS: Ebola is a fabrication of the imagination — meaning the media has got a hype on about Ebola. We have had haemorrhagic viruses for two centuries.
CM: You do realise Ebola has killed more than 4 000 people in West Africa so far? DTS: And what about HIV and Aids, or breast cancer, or hypertension, or diabetes?
CM: Doctor, do you have faith in the current Health ministry? DTS: Yes, very much so. They are very circumspect, they are careful to only speak about things they know, and to admit freely if they do not know — that’s important!
CM: If I can take you back to 2008 where there was a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe that killed more than 4 000 people. What happened? DTS: We knew what to do but we didn’t have the means. Remember in 2008 the ministry of health had no money? Hapana mari!
CM: And do they have the money now? DTS: They have got the access to money, but I think they need access to more money and they should be given a priority…If the money can be raised however, we do need more health workers and more health workers who are properly trained. That’s the one area which I will emphasise.
CM: In other words, we don’t have enough health workers and the ones we have are not properly trained? DTS: I will differ with you on the second part, but I will agree with you entirely on the first one…We need more health workers, and in particular nurses and they need to be taught the no-touch technique. This, to me, is more important than getting excited over one or a hundred cases of Ebola.
CM: In all honesty Doctor. . . DTS: I think I have spoken to you in all honesty the whole time (chuckles).
CM: Do you think our Health ministry is well-equipped to handle an Ebola outbreak? DTS: The intelligence is there and the ability is there. It is the [number of] people on the ground that needs to be boosted and now now, not next year.
CM: With most doctors currently on strike, what is to happen to someone with Ebola symptoms? DTS: I think the young doctors are just one cadre, they are not the whole. The strike is unfortunate, but you cannot stop people from withholding their labour if they are not satisfied.
CM: There was a reported incident where medical personnel ran away from a suspected Ebola patient, it made people question the ability of our nurses to face Ebola. Have they been trained to handle Ebola? DTS: We need to update the training. The reason they got into nursing was to help other people, to comfort always… and that’s something I think we have lost because of political events over the past 20 years or more.
CM: What about imported second-hand clothes, are they safe? DTS: It is not possible [to contract Ebola from second-hand clothes]. The Ebola virus is very sensitive to dehydration, so any clothing which dries out even for one hour or less, has got no haemorrhagic virus at all.
CM: I have to ask you, is there a political will to fight Ebola? Is President [Robert] Mugabe committed to fighting Ebola? DTS: I think he is very very committed, but then you can qualify that because I have been a member of Zanu PF for some time. But I am sure he not only knows about it, but he is politically committed to fight it.
CM: In the unfortunate event that Ebola pays Zimbabwe a visit, what impact do you see it having on HIV and Aids funding? DTS: Again we come back to money. I am not qualified to comment on that, but I am qualified to comment on the fact that we don’t have to forget Aids while looking at Ebola. In other words, you can’t take money from HIV and Aids to treat Ebola, especially when you have got no Ebola anyway (chuckles.)
CM: Do you feel the media is doing enough to spread awareness of Ebola? DTS: The media has by and large been very good. I mean it. Apart from some extravagant quotes mainly from outside, the media has kept its cool and done what it can with the limited information it has.
CM: There have been some conspiracy theories thrown around about Ebola… DTS: It was just like that with HIV and Aids. Aids was known as ‘American Idea to Discourage Sex’, it was alleged that the virus was made in a lab. But I don’t think that anybody, even the most evil person, could invent a virus like that.
CM: Doctor, what advice would you give to someone who is suspecting they may have Ebola? DTS: Just calm down, maybe take a whisky (laughs)…and think about how logical it is. Look at where you have been for the past 21 days as the incubation maximum is 21 days with the shortest being two days.
CM: Are we taking lessons from other countries, like Nigeria which was recently declared by WHO as Ebola-free? DTS: It is not what we can learn from Nigeria, it is what Nigeria can learn from us…The way we practise hygiene and the way we deal with health matters. Maybe we have not done as well as we should have, but we have the ability.
CM: Do you think as Africa, we will be able to get rid of Ebola anytime soon? DTS: We have to not only get rid of Ebola, but we need to get out of this syndrome of always being dependent on other parts of the world. We are proud, we are black people (I know I am pigmentally challenged) and we are all equal in God’s eyes. So we can do it, if we get it out of our heads that we are somehow less able than people from other countries, or Europe.
