The blind seeks involvement in Ebola containment

The West African regional branch of the Union of the Blind has appealed to ECOWAS to include Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) in the regional operational plan in the fight against the Ebola Virus Disease.

West Africa Regional President of the African Union of the Blind, Mr Yaw Ofori-Debrah told Ghana News Agency on Monday that ECOWAS ought to include PWDs, particularly the blind, in the management of the Ebola since they are more susceptible.

He said blind persons are vulnerable when it comes to hand-shaking or physical body contacts and could not therefore be left out in the implementation of the regional operational plan for the fight against the deadliest virus.

Mr Ofori-Debrah, who is also President of Ghana Federation of the Disabled, said so far governments, institutions and ECOWAS working around prevention and management of the disease in low and hard hit countries have not factored PWDs in their plans.

“In some countries they have quarantine people and we don’t know the fate of the blind who are more vulnerable,” he said.

Mr Ofori-Debrah noted that the United Nations Convention enjoins member states that in an emergency situation PWDs must be duly taken care of.

On Friday West African Health Ministers issued a seven-point communiqué calling for immediate deployment of West African Health Organisation (WAHO) delegation to the affected countries and also high level missions to neighbouring nations, but there was no mention of how vulnerable groups were going to be managed.

The health component of the Ebola regional operational plan as presented by WAHO is estimated to cost more than $45.7 million.

Minister of Health, Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, called for harmonisation of individual country's efforts to avoid panic, which could thwart efforts at dealing with the Ebola menace, which has infected about 6,000 and killed nearly half in the region.