Personal Injury Law

Is A South African Province Covering Up Hepatitis A and Meningitis Outbreaks?

By Marler Clark LLP

Whenever we get too critical of how quick and effective our governments are in North America when it comes to dealing in an up front and honest manner with we citizens, we have only look around the globe to understand how lucky we really are.

After China put pressure of its trial lawyers to drop food-borne illness claims in the Melamine scandal, we turn to South Africa to find a provincial government that just wants a city to cover up a Hepatitis A outbreak and more.

A little geography lesson first.   Mpumalanga is one of 9 provinces in South Africa, the nation of 50 million that is governed by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.   There are over 3 million people living in Mpumalanga.

Bacterial diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever are among the water and food-borne illnesses for which there is an intermediate risk in South Africa, according to international health experts.

So when the Municipality of Mbombela issued this warning...

“There is an outbreak of hepatitis A and meningitis around White River and Nelspruit. If one experiences one or more of symptoms like headache, fever, neck stiffness and fatigue, please consult the nearest clinic, hospital or your doctor.”

                                                                    ...it probably does not come as a surprise.

But guess who did not like it?  According to the Sowetan, a South African news service:

The Mpumalanga provincial government has ordered the Mbombela municipality to retract its warning to the public about outbreaks of meningitis and hepatitis in the area.

Provincial health department spokesman Mpho Gabashane said: “We only saw the warning statement released by the municipality, and at the moment we are yet to receive a formal report.”

While there appears to be some confusion between the municipality and the province, there are also indications that health-related news in the area are ripe with political overtones.  Go here, for more.

Full post as published by Hepatitis Blog on October 15, 2008 (boomark / email).