September 16, 2019
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Committee: World Health Organization

Topic: Ebola

Country: Equatorial Guinea

School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy

 

The Ebola Virus Disease(EVD), being identified in 1976, there have been multiple outbreaks in the history of Africa.  At the time of those outbreaks there weren’t many resources to prevent or reverse the virus but there were procedures such as keeping the patient hydrated and treat their infections if present. EVD is an extremely deadly virus that attacks the immune and vascular systems and has a fatality rate of up to 90%. Symptoms of the Ebola virus can occur 2-12 days after infection; although death from the Ebola Virus could occur in 6 to 16 days. The first of these outbreaks appeared in remote locations of central Africa; the Ebola virus is extremely prominent in countries such as Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone. The Ebola Epidemic in December of 2013, beginning in Guinea, affected the lives of over 28,000 people. Common health care such as maternal and child care systems were unavailable due to the death of health care workers; 1 to 2 doctors per 100,000 population. This significantly raised the death rate of pregnant women to 11,000 of the 28,000 of those who died from Ebola. There have been outbreaks over the past four decades; due to this, doctors often suspect in people Ebola with any  evidence of it. There are four investigational treatments available to treat Ebola; two of those four vaccines are shown to significantly reduce death rates. 

In 2015, Equatorial Guinea hosted the Africa Cup Of Nations (AFCON) on February 8th. In the upcoming of AFCON, The World Health Organization (WHO) worked with FIFA and Equatorial Guinea to develop standard operating procedures for Ebola. This work supported the Ministry of Health establishing surveillance of Ebola in stadiums, airports, and healthcare centers throughout the country. The team also worked with Ebola infection, control, and prevention. “We were encouraged by how much had already been done in Equatorial Guinea… to establish and implement protocols for preparing, detecting and managing suspect and confirmed cases[of Ebola]” (Nicolas Isa, WHO Technical Officer).

 

Within the committee, Equatorial Guinea would like to create a resolution that would continue to make safe travel possible along with further assistance from the western hemisphere in research. Working towards more medications such as vaccines and treatments for Ebola. In the case that Ebola is found in the western hemisphere, quarantine-like measures shall be taken by temporarily limiting air travel of the infected regions to near-nothing  and working extensively on treatment.

  • D'Yanie Hinton