An ocean away from Africa’s Ebola outbreak, a deep fear of the disease now runs through the Caribbean. The atmosphere recalls the early days of the AIDS epidemic, some 30 years ago. Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar (pictured), talks dramatically of “a new darkness, Ebola.” Her government this month recalled delegates en route to a Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Cameroon, a country unaffected by the current Ebola outbreak.
Her doctors and health workers are demanding quadruple pay and $1.6m insurance polices for joining an Ebola response team. There’s talk of cancelling the islands’ annual carnival. Trinidad and Tobago, along with Jamaica, St Kitts-Nevis, St Vincent, St Lucia, Suriname, Guyana and Belize this month banned all travel from African countries with an Ebola outbreak.
One reason for the level of fear is the rapid spread of chikungunya, a painful viral disease also of African origin which first reached the Caribbean last December. Anyone who has not yet been struck knows a bunch of people who have. Some islands have recorded cases in the tens of...Continue reading
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