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The Belgian doctors who first described Ebola fever to western medicine in 1976 asked three questions whilst investigating the epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (then Zaire) - one was 'Where?'. These doctors diligently made maps from their information to help understand and defeat the epidemic back then.
Ebola fever can spread fast; contagious and deadly enough to form a threat to experienced doctors as much as patients. If the current Ebola epidemic leaps into the Caribbean, as Chikungunya did only eight months ago, its spread might seem like a hurricane in comparison.
Timely and accurate information is a necessity in preventing incurable, deadly diseases from becoming epidemics. Forty years after "Zaire", do public health and immigration authorities in Caribbean nations use modern information management, mapping and spatial analysis tools?
Ebola fever can spread fast; contagious and deadly enough to form a threat to experienced doctors as much as patients. If the current Ebola epidemic leaps into the Caribbean, as Chikungunya did only eight months ago, its spread might seem like a hurricane in comparison.
Timely and accurate information is a necessity in preventing incurable, deadly diseases from becoming epidemics. Forty years after "Zaire", do public health and immigration authorities in Caribbean nations use modern information management, mapping and spatial analysis tools?
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