Effects of Ebola to the Affected Countries, Essay Example

Ebola is a highly contagious disease characterized by fever and internal bleeding. The disease is highly infectious and that has been marked as one of the most fatal and severe disease in the world today. It is normally caused by contact with the body of an infected person or animal. The disease is caused by a virus whose natural host remains unknown although it is highly associated with bats and apes. Recently, the disease shocked the word with its outbreak in West Africa where it killed over three thousand human beings in the three Western Africa countries namely Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Indeed, the outbreak of Ebola has resulted to numerous detriments, which have already been experienced and some which are predicted to happen as a result of the occurrence of Ebola.

Food Shortage

It is expected that there will be food shortage as a result of the Ebola out-break, especially in the affected Western Africa countries. This has been partially caused because the epicenters of the disease have been quarantined to prevent further spreading of the disease. The Chief coordinator, David McLachlan-Karr gave the proposition that road blocks were absolutely necessary to contain the outbreak of the disease. He further admitted that would be detrimental to the agriculture sector of the three countries because goods and farm applications will not be transported to the farmers for farming to take place effectively. As a matter of fact, the agriculture of Sierra Leone could be used as the evidence because the country was already struggling with food shortage and this was reflecting in the markets. Particularly, the disease hit the country at the time of the planting, hence creating havoc to the extent of bringing inflation to the national currency.

The Ebola disease has also caused a great reduction in the population and hence has affected the stability of the affected nations. For example, the outbreak claimed a lot of lives, some of which were the breadwinners of the family. This implies that the dependency rate of the population is now affected because some people will have to depend shift their dependence on other people. Some professionals like nurses and doctors also died in the process. This means that the country’s civil service department is affected too. For example, the government will have lost workers whom it trained. Consequently, the labor force of the government has decreased considerably. Hence, the governments of these three countries are at risk of losing their profession (Ostfeld, Keesing, and Eviner, 2010). This will be reflected in the quality of the service that will be offered to the citizens of these countries

Additionally, the outbreak of Ebola has resulted to intense reduction of the economic capacity of the countries affected (Cuylar, 2014). This has happened due the quarantines that has been placed on these countries by the international communities to prevent spread of the virus that causes Ebola. In trying to curb the spread, economic activities such as imports and exports have been affected. For example, imports from these countries have been greatly avoided because of the stigma that has been applied towards the countries. In addition, the businesses between these dwellers these countries has been reduced. Notably, upon the outbreak of the epidemic, and the travel bans that were applied consequently, arranged business meeting had to be cancelled, hence cancelling the expected business relations between them. Due to this, the government also lost a lot revenue due loss of tax.

The citizens and dwellers of the countries have also been affected by the outbreak. Anybody associated with the Guinea, Liberia Sierra Leone and majority of the Western African countries have been stereotyped as possessors of the deadly virus. Therefore, any person who is known to have come from any of the countries is likely to be stigmatized by the others (Franziska, 2013). Most likely, there are going to be segregated by the society members believing that they are carriers.

In conclusion, it is evident that the outbreak of the virus came along with adverse effects on the three countries affected by the Ebola. As aforementioned, there are possibilities of food shortages in the countries due to the road block applied on the roads to quarantine the area. In addition, the countries have lost a part of the population due to the virus. This reflects on the population structure of the countries in issues like dependency and professionals. In particular, the first people to be affected by the outbreak were nurses and hospital workers. This means that the countries lost its medical professions whom it had trained. Notably, the quality of the services offered to the citizens is reduced greatly. The disease has also affected the economy of the affected countries. The quarantine applied on those countries blocked the other countries from engaging in business with the affected these countries. Also, business people had to cancel important meetings hence losing business opportunities. Finally, the affected citizens are at a danger of stigma as people will always think that they are carrying the virus and might transfer it to them.

References

Bohle, L. (2013). Stigmatization, Discrimination and Illness Experiences among HIV Seropositive Women in Tanga, Tanzania. Go?ttingen: Universita?tsverlagGo?ttingen c/o  SUB Go?ttingen.

Culyer, A. (2014). Encyclopedia of health economics. Burlington: Elsevier Science.

Ostfeld, R. (2014). Infectious disease ecology the effects of ecosystems on disease and of disease  on ecosystems. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.