Ebola was a wide spread disaster in America just a few weeks ago and already we seem to have forgotten about it. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “Ebola, previously known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever, is a rare and deadly disease caused by infection with one of the Ebola virus strains. Ebola can cause disease in humans and nonhuman primates (monkeys, gorillas, and chimpanzees)…The natural reservoir host of Ebola virus remains unknown. However, on the basis of evidence and the nature of similar viruses, researchers believe that the virus is animal-borne and that bats are the most likely reservoir. Four of the five virus strains occur in an animal host native to Africa.”
The reason I felt this was important to post about this topic under media structure was after reading the article “Africa: Ebola Deals a Blow to Morocco’s Africa Plans” I noticed the government influence on the subject. Morocco wants to post-pone the African Cup of Nations soccer tournament which would have taken place mid-January through early-February of next year because of the fear of Ebola. This has enraged soccer fans in Africa.
It seems strange that the government, which is willing to host other large events in Morocco would be opposed to something that would surely bring attention, tourism, and stimulation to the land. According to the article “Doctors, experts and representatives of non-governmental organisations present in the Ebola-affected countries earlier this month spoke about this issue during a discussion entitled ‘Unpacking the impact of Ebola on health systems and regional Integration,’ held at the University of the Witwatersrand medical school in Johannesburg on 11 November. The panic around Ebola is fueled by the high mortality rate, but there are many misconceptions about how it is spread, they said.” Notice that only non-governmental health officials have spoken out on the topic.
Is this an example of the governments control of the media? Will the people in charge of posting this article come under fire for exposing a truth the Moroccan government might not want people to know?
For your entertainment, posted is a video of what the African Cup of Nations was like in 2014.
Sources:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201412031326.html
http://rt.com/news/203595-african-cup-ebola-morocco/
http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/about.html
This was a very interesting article because it gave another “outsider’s” prospective on the notorious Ebola virus. In America, media sources have made it very evident that the Ebola virus came from the continent of Africa. Yet some times we as Americans can forget how vast the continent of Africa is, in terms of size and culture. The Ebola virus took route and spread in Western Africa. Morocco, which is a part of Northern Africa, might not have been as affected. In fact, Morocco could be more similar to the United States in that the contraction of the Ebola virus was very rare and caused great fear.
I don’t necessarily blame the Moroccan government for not wanting to host African Cup in their country. The cup would bring fans and tourists from different parts of the continent, including Western Africa. It is up to the government to protect their citizens, and the Moroccan government probably feels that they can do this by not hosting the African Cup.
It is sad to me to see an event that would bring something positive to the people of Morocco get pushed away, but to me it just brings more incentive to find a cure.
Ebola has scared many people in America over the last two months. It is very crazy because it was such a big deal then but now no one seems to be talking about it anymore. People were scared to death because of Ebola but now no one seems like they care anymore. I think it has to do with the media and how much they publicize about the topic they want the public to know about. As for as Morocco, they could lose a lot of money because of Ebola because of how big soccer is in the country.
This is a very interesting topic. I think it is strange that the government would be open to holding other large events, but with the Ebola outbreak and the soccer game drawing in large crowds, the government probably does not want to draw in the possibility of the disease. That was my initial thinking because what Morocco is doing could be understood – from their point of view – that they want to protect their people against the spread of such a deadly disease. That point would certainly hold true if they had turned away all large events scheduled in Morocco. The fact that they have made it a point to withdraw from the responsibility of hosting the Africa cup of Nations is rather curious. It makes me wonder what is so particular about this specific case that they do not want the duty of hosting.
One interesting point that came up in the article was the reasoning that people would be coming from all over the place with a soccer game this big. The concern was that they believed there would not be a way every single person could be screened for the disease. Again, this is a very plausible concern by the government in an attempt to protect their people. This would make complete sense if medical specialists had not countered the notion with points that there are simple ways to contain Ebola; the example the article gives is washing hands.
Another point that is raised in the blog is the fact that government organizations wouldn’t speak up about the topic. This raises a sense of secrecy and gives people the idea that the government is hiding something. Due to this response, the government will certainly experience backlash and questioning by, not only the people of Morocco and the African people, but also people around the world.
The fear of ebola in all parts of Africa can certainly be attributed to the way the various governments are handling it. The only way people across the world learn about the disease primarily through how it’s being portrayed in the media, unless they’re medically trained.
In America, the coverage of ebola has been very thorough and our society, all though a bit feared, understand the cause of the disease and how to avoid it. In the countries that have been most affected by the most recent ebola outbreak, unfortunately this understanding isn’t quite the same.
Many news outlets are heavily monitored by the governments of these African countries. Even if the governments aren’t handling this crisis well, criticism is still avoided (for the most part) because of their control over the media.
Morocco’s desire to postpone the soccer tournament is certainly a step in the right the direction toward properly handling the outbreak. The country’s willingness to forgo a probable economic boost to handle a more important situation demonstrates a more proactive approach the stopping the outbreak. Trust me, I love sports and hate to see major events affected by outside events. But sometimes, there are more important things that need to be addressed.