Ebola should dominate election campaigns – Annan

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on politicians to make Ebola a central theme in their election messages.

Admitting that such is quite dangerous, Mr Annan says it is a populist card politicians can play on especially as elections in several countries are close.

“I think people are not understanding [Ebola] because the leaders are not hammering on [it],” he said.

“The leaders should hammer away and explain in schools, on television, on radio and now that it is becoming political on political stands and campaigns.”

Mr Annan made these suggestions on Monday, October 27 when he appeared on CNN’s Quest Means Business programme.

He said he was shocked at the experience of American nurse Kaci Hickox as she narrated her ordeal on television.

Mr Annan opines that such an experience scares away health workers who want to genuinely help in the fight against the disease.

“If we discourage the health workers from getting [to] it, they are not able to contain it and we are all going to be at risk.”

Mr Annan expressed disagreement with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s mandatory isolation of health workers who come into contact with Ebola patients, saying: “I think it is a bad one and unfortunate because it is not backed by science.”

He said the containment efforts by stakeholders against Ebola would have been different if it had broken out in a richer country.

“We’ve known about Ebola for 40 years but it’s a poor man’s disease,” he told host Richard Quest, adding that many companies would not want to invest in any research into the viral disease because when they do and come out with medicines, they may have the feeling “the poor can’t afford it.”

Ebola's deadliest outbreak has been in West Africa and has so far claimed close to 5,000 lives.