By Mark Baber
September 17- Claims by Guinea that the country will be allowed to play home matches again have been denied by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) who will be guided by World Health Organisation (WHO) advice, whilst the early response of FIFA to the Ebola crisis in West Africa has been fully justified by subsequent events.
Unfortunately the current Ebola outbreak is worsening with the latest figures showing the number of cases in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea growing at an exponential rate. The general response of the world community to the outbreak has been described as “lethally inadequate” as already weak local health care services are being overwhelmed.
Statistics show 40% of the 2,000 deaths in the current outbreak have been in the past three weeks and the numbers are expected to rise considerably as the three countries most effected do not have the facilities or sufficient medical personnel to isolate and treat victims. Those medical personnel who are available often lack basic protective items such as rubber gloves.
The lack of facilities to isolate and treat victims is so acute that Medicines sans Frontiers has had to turn victims away in Monrovia as it simply does not have the capacity to treat them.
Dr Christopher Dye, the director of strategy in the office of the director general at the World Health Organization, told the BBC, “We’re quite worried, I have to say, about the latest data we’ve just gathered.”
“If current trends persist,” Dr Dye continued, “we would be seeing not hundreds of cases per week, but thousands of cases per week and that is terribly disturbing.”
The increasing number of cases is also increasing the risk of international spread of the disease beyond the three most effected countries, and particularly to other countries with weak medical systems which are unable to prevent isolated cases turning into uncontrolled outbreaks.
The United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss the outbreak. If coordinated and immediate international action is taken a catastrophe can be prevented as Ebola is treatable and with sufficient isolation facilities the disease can be prevented from spreading.
It is against this background that FIFA deserves praise for having, last Thursday, teamed up with the UN by offering up the Antoinette Tubman Stadium in Monrovia, recently donated to the Liberian Football Association, for two large Ebola treatment units. FIFA quickly pledged its support for the UN-coordinated Ebola response in the affected countries saying it will cover the costs of potential damages arising from the use of the field to house the units.
FIFA has also said it will consider using resources from its solidarity fund to support the member associations of the particularly affected countries in the fight against Ebola.
Wilfried Lemke, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace said, “The Ebola outbreak also has a tremendous impact on the sport community, ranging from health threats to the athletes themselves and restrictions of travel affecting competitions and the development of sport. National authorities, the UN and the world of sport need to work closely together in order to halt the spread of the disease. The commitment of sport organisations to support our efforts is very much welcomed and crucial.”
Virologist Professor Jonathan Ball, from the University of Nottingham, has described the situation as “desperate” as the virus is currently getting a chance to adapt to thrive in the human population – and though this means the mortality rate (currently at 55%) may go down, there is a danger that the disease, which originated in fruit bats, will become endemic in the human population and never fully eradicated.
Meanwhile, CAF on Tuesday denied claims by the Guinea Football Federation that the temporary ban on them playing games at home had been lifted, saying no decision will be taken until its executive committee meets on Friday and Saturday in Ethiopia.
Last month, CAF banned Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from hosting games because of the outbreak and any decision to lift the ban will only be done in consultation with the World Health Organization.