He was considered among the most courageous men in the world, who had taken on the task of fighting a killer disease wreaking havoc in West Africa. Dr Shaikh Humarr Khan, a Sierra Leonean expert in viral haemorrhagic fevers, relentlessly fought to save people infected with the lethal Ebola virus and in the process, succumbed to the disease himself on Tuesday. His demise heightens the danger posed by the virus that has already claimed 800 lives this year in the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
It is time the governments of this region wake up to the grim reality. The three countries most affected are among the poorest in the region, with dismal governance, weak health care systems and masses of illiterate populations whose fear, suspicion and superstition often work against international efforts to provide help. Before the Ebola epidemic gets out of control — Nigeria has also reported cases this week — the world needs to devise ways of enabling these countries to not only contain the virus by observing the basic rules of prevention and care, but to also make its people aware of the dangers and encourage them to fight it together.
