Rakesh Manchanda
Challenge needs to overcome is the control on the chain of human connectivity that helps both Swine Flu and Ebola to spread. Sample the West African plan of a nation Sierra Leone to control Ebola-Three Day Jail or a shut down of 2,500,000 people from 27-28th.March-2015 asking them to stay at home. Unlike 21 days isolation of a Ebola victim the Swine Flu attack restricts a patient to a seven day quatarum.
Flu comes silently life a wild wolf and picks up victims each year.In India we are lucky to have the curable viral H1N1 with a vaccine. 2015 death toll today is 1809 and is still counting. Swine Flu effected number in 7 day isolation swells over 31,000 this season.
It is unfortunate that our top leaders claim India is prepared for Ebola. Today we see even medicines Tami Flu to overcome H1N1 are short or are sold in black. Only serious control is seen in Delhi with AAP state government surprise checks on Labs and medicine stocks.
India`s Preparedness and Investments needs a Public scrutiny?
Ebola caretakers (outsmarting Indian PM-Modi) are collectively named 2014 Person of the Year by prestigious Time Magazine. Health Insurance Ebola Protocols are still in a mess. India overseas Travel & Health insurance for `Ebola` cover in West Africa is toothless and is likely to fall under an `Act of God` clause with no claims in 2015.Such write ups were covered in these columns by India opines.
Stop 40yrs.Old Ghost- Milked by Cinema & Video Games ?
Talk-2014-15,Ebola Ghost@40 is real. Not a fiction film show. Virus is more than a fodder for entertainment and a byte for horror films. The world has now started talking about the Ebola virus which is 40 years old. In 2014-15 each and every country has an Ebola Alert Airport screening set up in position.
Entertainment Industry has been milking profit from Ebola fear for decades. Ebola like virus and outbreak films are beginning to give real jitters. Profit list in Bollywood is equally impressive like in Hollywood.
The antidote to the deadly virus is in Krrish’s blood in Hritik Roshan Krrish-3.
We see entertainment market flooded with Video games and movies on Ebola. Instead of providing breakthrough and funds for research as pointed by several medical research experts the Market and trade kept the people and children engaged with Zombies. Ebola Shop is a big success. Most of the dramatizations promote entertainment at the expense of reality.
In one of my old article –“Outbreak Cure in Reel Life-Real Life fights for 40 Yrs” the business-political impact is widely discussed in detail. Ebola is assumed as a poor people virus with no profit to Pharma industry by the victims however Ebola driven Entertainment industry has earned hundreds of millions dollars by selling this fear.
Swine Flu like Ebola has dangerous links with Pharma Donation and Entertainment industry.
Back in India in struggle to control we find the ruling government BJP and previous Congress government receiving donations of 1.55 crores from Serum Institute of India Ltd.
Sample a Tollywood film-2008, ‘Dasavatharam’. The hero Kamal Hasan blockbuster made audience think, as he had mentioned in his film about Ebola like Virus bomb in a parcel.
Global Attention to cure and control Monster Virus:
The challenge starts when you study the past 40 years emergence of the monster and see that when the virus is found dead or disappearing, it surprises and bounces back. Ebola outbreak is a disgrace with research fund tap closed. Reason ?It was a poor person`s disease. The virus is there for entertainment but has no scientific solution. It started in a remote African village in 1976 has now reached the developing world New York City and the West. Eventually the world which is forced to spend more may realize that it makes no sense to leave one part of the world struggling in poverty with no health support and means.
A game Changer in EE-Entertainment Education
Can Contagion -2011 medical thriller Help Change Behaviours and Stop the Ebola Outbreak ?
Contagion was budgeted at USD $60 million and attained $135 million in box office revenue during its theatrical run. This profit was worth as film prints are today been used by `Changemakers` as EE-Entertainment Education in Ebola Combat and sensitisation. At the same time film shows how the ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.
The film helps today the rescue teams in West Africa aided by UNICEF and partners to build `mental models` to fight rumours and to change life style like eating bush meat and burial traditions. The media uses radio, storytelling and television to reach the Public in Ebola fight.
Before Ebola ghost is re-buried or virus is cured in next few months, it is likely to re-define life with healthy entertainment and teach us sustainable safe living in its mild Indian Avtaar-Swine Flu. Let us improve for a safe future.
