15 Dec 2014

The Assistant Minister of Health, Dr Alfred Madigele, says his ministry has developed measures to curb against the Ebola epidemic.

Responding to a question from Okavango MP, Dr Madigele said so far Botswana does not have suspected or confirmed cases.The assistant minister said all people entering into the country were screened including people from high risk, affected and non-affected countries.

He said the screening was carried out in collaboration between the Ministry of Health and Immigration officials at ports of entry. Travellers from high risk countries such as Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were requested to fill in declaration forms on their health status.

“Temperature checks are also done for people from these countries,” he said adding that individuals from these countries are expected to report or call the nearest health facility for three consecutive days thereafter weekly until 21 days incubation period is over.

Dr Madigele said infrared thermometers are used to determine the temperatures of travelers from high risk countries in case they display early signs and symptoms such as fever. He said isolation sites have been identified in districts with ports of entry in the event that a suspected case requires being isolated.

“We continue to visit these sites on a regular basis,” he said. The assistant minister said the public is being educated about the epidemic through various methods such as the media adverts which include radio jingles.

“Other programmes on the national radio station (RB1) such as Masa-a-sele, A o Tsogile, Tsa Boitekanelo, Lifeline, Tsele le tsele, Maokaneng, Tatediso ya dikgang are being frequently used to encourage Batswana not to travel to Ebola affected countries,” he said.

Dr Madigele said materials are printed both in Setswana and English adding they continue to educate the public on the basic hand hygiene methods. Public education campaigns are also carried out in kgotla meetings and churches while the District Health Management Teams (DHMT) have come up with their social mobilisation plans on how they can involve stakeholders in their respective districts.

The assistant minister said frontline workers at all ports of entry have been trained on screening and infection control.

Social workers from all health districts have also been trained and are expected to develop a database of all counselors in their respective districts and be in a position to offer psychological first aid should the need arise.

Protective clothing has been distributed to the districts and the assistant minister said they are in the process of procuring additional air and water tight overall heavy duty ones. “Travel restriction has been instituted banning nationals from Ebola affected countries. This is however reviewed as these countries try to control the spread of the EVD (Ebola Viral Disease).

The assistant health minister said there is a National Multi-Sectoral Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Committee that is charged with management and organisation of all Ebola response.

The committee has technical working groups responsible for public education, surveillance, logistics, training and protection of health workers. ENDS