DR UMER FAROOQ
THE terms ‘pandemic’ and ‘epidemic’ send chills down the spine of all and sundry. However, many are still unaware of the true essence and basic understanding of these. Recently, these terms have surfaced up in every commoner’s talk owing to the emergence of Corona Virus (COVID-19). In order to grasp a complete perception as to how the various deadly diseases have caused massive wipe-outs of human population on the globe, it seems imperative to attain basic information of these two terms in a simplest way possible. As per the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) — a prominent national public health institute of USA — ‘an epidemic is a rise in the number of cases of a disease beyond what is expected for that geographical entity’. A few of the examples include, but are not limited to Zika Virus outbreak (2016- 17), Ebola Virus outbreak (2014-16), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) (2003), and Flu.A ‘pandemic’, on the other hand, is the worst case scenario and is described as a disease which breaks the international geographical barriers, spreads in many countries and affects a massive number of humans. A few of the examples include, but are not limited to bubonic plague (1347 A.D.), leprosy (11th century), cholera (1817), Russian flu (1889),Spanish Flu (1918), HIV/AIDS (1981), and Corona Virus (2019). Neither the CDC nor the WHO has yet specified how many countries or how many people need to be infected in order for a disease to be declared as pandemic. Simply put, in a pandemic, almost everyone is equally susceptible and prone to the disease with a potential of being exposed. Before a disease becomes a pandemic, it has to reach certain levels as defined by the CDC. In increasing severity, those levels include: – Sporadic (Disease happening infrequently and irregularly) -Endemic (Disease present constantly in a specific geographical area such as mosquito-borne infections) – Epidemic (Sudden increase in number of disease cases beyond expectation for that area) -Pandemic (Disease breaks international barriers and spreads globally) The COVID-19 has recently been declared as a pandemic and a ‘defining global health crisis of our time’ by the WHO. Having its epicentre in Wuhan, China, it has infected more than 750,000 people and killed at least 35,000 worldwide at the moment this article is being drafted. The benevolent measures taken by China have put it at ease as the disease has been quelled there. However, many other countries, including world powers such as USA, Russia, Europe etc are bracing this pandemic with elevated social curbs, medical emergencies and closure of their borders. Pakistan is no such exception to this pandemic and the virus has emerged with an estimated infected population of more than 1500, with a continued exponential rise. Certain concrete and obvious measures have been taken by the government such as the closure of all public/private educational institutions, sealing the borders with Afghanistan and Iran, quarantine for pilgrims entering back, banning all public gatherings and conferences and a comprehensive food security plan. These measures have highly been lauded by the WHO as ‘timely’and ‘best national response’. Yet the geographical location, socio-cultural norms, illiteracy, living conditions of its inhabitants and high poverty index of the country allied with deep-rooted superstitious minds of its people are hampering these measures. A plethora of misconceptions and misrepresentations for COVID-19 have thus risen which are further complicating measures of stopping its spread. All of this is evident through the trends in social media in the form of memes, jokes and unfounded misinformation and disinformation.’ The Pakistanis may die not of Corona Virus but of their superstitious and illusory ideology’. The closure of all public/private educational institutions of the country by the government has ignited the inner innate bliss of Pakistani public considering it as an arrival of early summer vacation. The family gettogethers, reunions and domestic parties are on the rise putting all government protocols to deaf ears. Closure of marriage halls has not resulted in stoppage/postponement of marriages. Rather, such festivities have been shifted to house lawns and distantly located farm houses.’ Social distancing’ is being mocked as an un-Islamic ritual and an extreme opposite of ‘social distancing’ is being practiced. Considering the gravity of the pandemic, though, all parks, zoos, museums and recreation points have been closed, yet, our daredevil public is nose-diving itself to find alternate ways for fun and frolic. The WHO, FAO, Chinese government and many others are actively engaged in provision of assistance to Pakistan in terms of diagnostic kits, appropriate guidelines, protective gears and technical support. However, complete success can be attained with mutual collaborative effort of government, non-government organizations, local govts, all stakeholders and common people/public. Credible and non-politicized dissemination of information to the public, imposing control measures and adequate restrictions, devising prioritization guidelines for allocation of resources and effective use of technology lies on the part of government to follow. And presumably, the government is already playing an efficient role. This should render the public free from confusion and skepticism. None of this is, however, possible until and unless a ‘whole-of-society’ global approach is implied, the main actors of which are the public sector, civil society and a commoner. The simplest ways of self-isolation, continued hygiene, halt to unnecessary travels and elevated moral/ethical standards may contain corona in specific, and any other pandemic in general. ‘Ubuntu’ is an African slogan/word translated as ‘humanity’ and also as ‘I am because we are’ or ‘humanity towards others’. It has become one of the widely accepted beliefs of human philosophy, ethics and ideology. In general terms, it emphasizes the oneness of approach towards any disaster, calamity, epidemics or pandemics. In a nutshell, we need ‘ubuntuism’ philosophy not only for this looming pandemic disease but for any other imminent threat which tries to hamper the global or national integrity. —The writer is associated with Islamia University of Bahawalpur
