The reason Ebola isn't being stopped

[MHSC]

Many contacts' addresses were missing or were vague like "down by the farm road." In all, only 20% to 30% of the contacts in the database had a usable address.

....

According to the United Nations, only 16 of 44 zones in West Africa have sufficient contact tracing.

...

With the help of other organizations, she also got the workers more computers and training in how to do contact tracing. Now, hundreds of contact tracers are assigned to go out into the neighborhoods in her district every day.


http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/11/health/ebola-contact-tracing/

 

[Graupel]

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

There are several things going on here. First off, many developing countries do not have any type street addresses per se. The usual procedure is that someone will indicate their town/village/sub-village, and then you need to meet with the village elder(s) who know everyone in the neighborhood, who then points the way. It kind of works, but what if the village elders aren't there?

Secondly, this system completely fall apart in the big urban slums, as populations are huge, and very dynamic.

 

[GardenSpider]

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

There are several things going on here. First off, many developing countries do not have any type street addresses per se. The usual procedure is that someone will indicate their town/village/sub-village, and then you need to meet with the village elder(s) who know everyone in the neighborhood, who then points the way. It kind of works, but what if the village elders aren't there?

Secondly, this system completely fall apart in the big urban slums, as populations are huge, and very dynamic.

Graupel, you are completely on point. These are the subtleties typically ignored in the reporting. I would add that people also move around a lot. They may live in more than one place since family is not generally just in one village, but spread across several villages.

 

[AnnaLisa]

Re: The reason Ebola isn't being stopped

The system is completely overwhelmed. They can't care for the sick, let alone trace contacts. Families are bringing their sick to the centers only to be told to take them home where it spreads more. It looks very bleak to me.

 

[Lizw]

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

There are several things going on here. First off, many developing countries do not have any type street addresses per se. The usual procedure is that someone will indicate their town/village/sub-village, and then you need to meet with the village elder(s) who know everyone in the neighborhood, who then points the way. It kind of works, but what if the village elders aren't there?

Secondly, this system completely fall apart in the big urban slums, as populations are huge, and very dynamic.

I think it might be useful to know that things weren't much different in rural America until quite recently. I came out to southwestern Virginia after running rescue in a large metropolitan area. You can imagine my dismay when my first call was to "Old Mrs. Cockram's house--she's having heart palpitations again." When I asked for an address, I was told something on the order of "Go down past the high school and turn at the old Gulf station. It's that long dirt road across from the Martins." Lotta help, that was. Now even the most remote locations have '911' addresses, but there are still many places that have no street signage, and gps devices often don't work in the mountains. An address isn't much help if you can't find it.

One thing I hope those computers have, the ones that are being given out to contract tracing people, and that is a text field in the database for directions to find each of the people they do manage to locate.

 

[JJackson]

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

Re: (One of the reasons) Ebola isn't being stopped

One thing I hope those computers have, the ones that are being given out to contract tracing people, and that is a text field in the database for directions to find each of the people they do manage to locate.

And GPS locators.
If and when a serious command & control system is set up one hopes it will include GIS software and GPS locations with time stamps will be most helpful with containment and resource allocation.