AfricaPress-Tanzania: AS the world battles coronavirus, we all know that health workers have become the frontline soldiers risking their lives and property to fight an enemy who is invisible.
This may be hurriedly taken as their duty in line with Hippocratic Oath they take, but with covid-19, we have an enemy, which despite being invisible is sometimes deadly, and the task is harder.
About a century ago the Spanish flu pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people, more than the combined total casualties of World Wars I and II.
Our understanding of disease transmission and treatments is far ahead of our position in 1918, but this new coronavirus has shown the limits of our ability to deal with major disease outbreaks.
During the Ebola outbreak six years ago, the World Health Organisation estimated that health workers were between 21 and 32 times more likely to be infected with Ebola than people in the general adult population.
In West Africa more than 350 health care workers died while battling Ebola.
This is not a scare, but doctors, nurses, caretakers and paramedics around the world are facing an unprecedented workload in overstretched health facilities, and with no end in sight.
They are working in stressful and frightening work environments, not just because the virus is little understood, but because in most settings they are under-protected, overworked and themselves vulnerable to infection.
And funny enough, coronavirus spread and infection only require public awareness and advice to protect ourselves by washing hands well with soap and often, self-isolation if one feels unwell, maintain social distance by avoiding crowded and public spaces and, if one’s symptoms worsen, contact medical services.
Only by following this advice rigorously we can hope to stem the tide of new infections.
For now, however, the virus is spreading and, on the frontline between a nervous public and those responsible for directing national responses, the healthcare workers on whom we all depend can easily be forgotten.
We need a whole-of-society resolve that we will not let our frontline soldiers become patients.
We must do everything to support health workers who, despite their own wellfounded fears, are stepping directly into COVID-19’s path to aid the afflicted and help halt the virus’ spread.
We need to appreciate their role, dedication and time taken from their families to lead the public against onslaughter of an enemy, who is invisible and out to wipe out mankind
