HUMAN EBOLA VIRUS DISEASE OUTBREAK IN SUB SAHARAN AFRICA: IMPLICATION FOR BORDER TOWNS ACROSS THE GLOBE

Introduction: Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a zoonotic disease that has affected humans especially in sub Saharan Africa (SSA) for the past four decades with case fatality rate up to about 90%. As at September 2015, the recent EVD in West Africa has led to 11 306 deaths out of 28 200 cases reported from 10 countries. Objective: Firstly, to provide the EVD epidemic profile in SSA. Secondly, is to identify the location and spread of EVD outbreaks in SSA from 1976 to 2014. Thirdly, is to examine the implication of the spread for border towns across the globe. Methods: A systematic review of research on Ebola virus disease in sub-Saharan Africa. Search focused on nine databases: EBSCO host (Discovery), Academic Search Complete, AJOL, Google Scholar, Pub Med, Medline, Health Source, CINAHL Complete and Bio Medical Central. An additional search of reference lists of relevant papers was also conducted. Results: The review highlighted the increasing frequency of EVD outbreaks, mobility and mortality with the geographical niche of EVD expending from east to west of SSA, and border regions being high risk area. Border towns have double risk of Ebola epidemic. More especially border towns that lie within the geographical niche of EVD SSA across the globe. Conclusions: The changing patterns in the spread of EVD calls for holistic preparedness which comes from well informed individuals, communities, regions, countries and the international community as a whole to combat Ebola outbreaks in the future. This paper therefore suggests that border towns across the globe need to prepare for any contingency through capacity building and Ebola awareness creation and education.