Pretoria – A range of anti-viral hand washes are to be donated to Ebola centres in West Africa to support efforts to contain the current outbreak.
Mundipharma, an international pharmaceutical company, is to partner with Direct Relief to donate more than two million supplies of its Betadine range of anti-virals to Ebola treatment centres.
The Ebola outbreak has killed more than 1000 people, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare it a worldwide public health concern.
According to World Health Organisation guidelines, hand hygiene is the most important measure to avoid the transmission of harmful germs and prevent health care-associated infections.
The supplies of Betadine Surgical Scrub and Betadine Scalp & Skin Cleanser donated by Mundipharma are medicated soaps containing povidone iodine, a well-known antiviral, to provide hand disinfection even in areas without access to clean running water.
Betadine has demonstrated strong efficacy against enveloped viruses and sufficient efficacy against non-enveloped viruses and its use to contain the spread of Ebola has already been endorsed by the Australian Department of Health and Ageing.
Announcing the donation on Tuesday, President of Mundipharma Asia Pacific, Latin America, Middle East & North Africa, Raman Singh, said that Mundipharma is committed to support the international aid efforts against Ebola.
“We hope that our proactive approach will enable Direct Relief to continue to quickly and efficiently provide important preventative measures in limiting the outbreak of this serious and growing health issue,” said Singh.
Direct Relief CEO Thomas Tighe said they are very pleased to partner with Mundipharma to continue their relentless efforts to combat Ebola at this crucial time.
“Minimising the further spread of the virus is a fundamental step in our fight against Ebola and providing aid workers, healthcare professionals and the general population with a means to implement proper hand hygiene via Mundipharma’s donations will play an important role in our task,” said Tighe.
Second SA Ebola team sent to West Africa
Meanwhile, 23 more South African health workers are being deployed to Ebola affected countries by government, in collaboration with the African Union Support to Ebola Outbreak in West Africa (ASEOWA), to help contain the disease in West Africa.
This followed the deployment of a doctor and 10 nurses from South Africa, through the non-profit organisation Right to Care, in January.
The Right to Care organisation, which partnered with the national Department of Health to send the first batch of health workers, said 20 nurses and three paramedics are expected to leave for Sierra Leone on Friday.
“The health workers have undergone pre-deployment training given by the African Union and Department of Health officials. On arrival in affected countries, the health workers will undergo further intensive training for two weeks before embarking on their duties,” the organisation said on Monday. – SAnews.gov.za
