It is unfortunate that local authorities appear to have learned little from the communications failures of the COVID-19 pandemic, for as the country returned to normal, policymakers have returned to their old ways.
Over the past 24 hours, the public’s curiosity has been piqued by reports on the World Health Organisation (WHO) website that there was a case of West Nile Virus on the island and was reported in a child under the age of 15 last month.
It was not that the illness, which was relatively foreign to the island, had been uncovered that concerned many but that the information was circulating widely across social platforms for the world to see without a word from the Ministry of Health or any other relevant body or agency.
It was yet another example of information regarding public health not being shared with the public and the authorities being forced to divulge it following a “leak”.
It would appear that those who have control and access to vital information that the public should be informed of, still believe it is best kept to an inner circle.
Is it a case where the authorities are of the view that the public is not mature enough to handle public health information?
Those who operate in the field of communications would argue that the public’s best interests are better served when key information is shared in a managed way from the competent authority than being shocked by a viral video or post from a random man or woman on the street.
We concur with the proven position that the best outcomes for Barbadians are achieved when there is transparency and trust between the public and those who direct and shape policy that impacts our people.
It must surely have dawned on health officials in Barbados that citizens here and in the diaspora are fervent followers of news and developments about this island. Most media practitioners have established Google News alerts that track any mentions of Barbados, so there are hardly any “secrets” that will not come to light eventually.
While health officials may have believed that they would release information on the West Nile Virus (WNV) when they were good and ready, the WHO’s transparency policies allow no such privileges; it is mandated to disclose all such public health-related information.
On Thursday, the WHO released a comprehensive statement on the first reported case of the disease in Barbados. The island reported the matter to the world body on September 13 after the child fell ill in June, but blood samples only confirmed WNV on September 4.
According to the WHO communication on Thursday, Barbadian health authorities were conducting interviews with the patient’s parents to investigate risk factors such as exposure to animals known to carry WNV, recent travel history, and other relevant factors.
In addition, WHO said Barbados was undertaking “epidemiological surveillance and testing have been implemented to ensure no further cases are missed and to evaluate the potential risk of local transmission”.
Having made it through the pandemic at great economic, social and human costs, it is understandable that a tourism-dependent nation would not make it a priority to tell a wary population and global markets that it has uncovered a sometimes-deadly mosquito-transmitted disease.
However, as the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated, the only way to maintain trust and the confidence of a population is to be open and transparent with them.
We know that where there are vacuums, the space will be filled by less informed and sometimes mischievous actors.
In an attempt to “protect” Barbadians from such adverse public health news, we are convinced that the Ministry of Health dropped the ball. Even if the risk of spread of the West Nile Virus was low, did the public not deserve to know what was happening?
It was unfortunate that the Ministry of Health’s officials were forced to respond after the fact, as local news media sought reactions to the information that had gone viral 24 hours earlier.
The fact that the West Nile Virus is spread by mosquitoes, it is incumbent on health officials to urge individuals to take strong action to clean their surroundings and be proactive in reducing mosquito-breeding grounds.
By doing so, the risks are reduced, not only of the West Nile Virus but dengue fever which is now endemic in Barbados and the region.
Thankfully, the WHO has not recommended any travel restrictions to Barbados, but it has urged the country to undertake “comprehensive mosquito surveillance and control programmes”, including source reduction, water management, and biological and chemical control methods.
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