On the 20th of October, Nigeria was given the clean bill of being "Ebola free" by the World Health organisation. This good news came after a gruelling three months for a nation since the inception of the virus that dates back to 1976 when the first incident was recorded in Zaire. It had a lot of negative impact for Nigeria which includes the record of about nineteen (19) cases and seven (7) deaths mostly of health care workers but on the other hand, it had a lot of positive impact for us as a country. It gave the government a challenge to improve on the health care services, created awareness on personal hygiene for all citizens (hand-washing, use of sanitisers, proper disinfection e.t.c.), private organisations took up the challenge to improve on their welfare for their staff and the to the general public (provision of hand sanitisers, washing facilities, temperature scanning), non- governmental organisations and civil agencies created awareness in the local community, health care workers were trained to ensure they have adequate knowledge and skills to combat outbreak. In all these, it was a victory for Nigeria as a community and lots of other nations had one thing or the other to learn from our experience. This challenge brought out the best in us and was an indicator that when everyone collectively work towards a set goal, it can be easily achieved. Let us all continue to work together to make Nigeria a better and more sustainable country to live and dwell in.
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| Guardian Publication : Nigeria is now Ebola free. |
