Author: Olusola Bamidele Ojo I. Autobiography Olusola Bamidele Ojo is an astute and dynamic medical practitioner and a multidiscip...
Author: Olusola Bamidele Ojo
I. Autobiography
Olusola Bamidele Ojo is an astute and dynamic medical practitioner and a multidisciplinary researcher. His research interests range from public health, infectious diseases epidemiology, and pharmacology to health humanities. Olusola has authored a wide range of articles on Ebola, Marburg, Dengue, and Norovirus epidemiology in sub-Saharan contexts including Nigeria. He has also ventured into colonial medicine with sterling works in reputable journals. He is presently engaged as a Medical Registrar with the Health Care Agency, Ministry of Health,Seychelles. He has a primary medical degree (MBBS), a master of public health (MPH), and a Ph.D. in History with a focus on historical epidemiology of epidemics and pandemics, and colonial medicine.
II. Motivation for Research
Epidemics and pandemics have plagued man since antiquity. They have shaped the political, geographical, socio-economic, and medical landscape over the eras. From the Athenian and Justinian plague in the ancient era to the Black Death (plague) in the mid-14th century and to the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, epidemics and pandemics have influenced the core dynamics of our existence. In the 21st century, the unprecedented Ebola mortalities in West Africa connoted another defining moment in the annals of pandemics. Ebola affected predominantly, Guinea, Senegal, and Liberia killing over 11, 300 people out of over 28,600 cases between 2014 and 2016. After this catastrophe, there have been eight other outbreaks of Ebola with appreciable fatalities. This spurred my keen interest early this year (2025). It motivated me to a basic question, what are the drivers and determinants of incessant Ebola virus disease in sub-Saharan Africa? The quest to answer this germane question birthed the research on Ebola epidemiology in sub-Saharan Africa.
III. Research Highlights
The research deployed a narrative review of all studies regarding Ebola from its inception in 1976 to 2025. From 2001 to 2025 was delineated as the contemporary Ebola era. In this era, this study discovered that roughly 50 percent of epidemics occurred in DR Congo and Zaire Ebola virus was responsible for over three-fourths of cases in sub-Saharan Africa.Between 2017 and 7 March 2025, Ebola virusdisease occasioned eight outbreaks killing 2,471 people out of3,892 cases in sub-Saharan Africa. The article correlated the incessant Ebola epidemics over the years to the political conflicts in DR Congo. Moreover, it emphasized the role of heightened encroachment of humans into the sanctuaries of bats and other mammals, which serve as the reservoirs of Ebola. These often resulted from mining, tourism of heightened urbanization. I highlighted the effects of overwhelming poverty, illiteracy, and poor health systems especially in rural settings, and correlated it with frequent Ebola outbreaks in sub-Saharan climes. Hence, I claim that the recurrent rate of Ebola virus disease epidemics incontemporary sub-Saharan Africa is mainly due to rapidurbanization, political instabilities, and weakened health systems. Therefore, this work underscores the need for continuing community education and engagement regarding Ebola, strengthening of disease surveillance, and a clarion call for peace in war-troubled regions of sub-Saharan Africa.
IV. Further Research
Since the catastrophic loss of lives and the concomitant disruptions of social, economic, and political formations of occasioned by the Spanish flu in 1918-19, only the COVID-19 pandemic came closer to its affectation on our lives. As of January 2025, COVID-19 has killed over 7 million people out of 777 million cases. Apart from the fatalities, the impact of the control measures such as lockdowns and quarantines debilitated economies, systems and institutions, that ran the steel of the world to an ignominious halt. To prevent recurrence, all hands must be on deck. In 2022, the World Health Organization marshaled an action plan against high-risk pathogens capable of triggering the next pandemic. Such pathogens include the placeholder and imaginary Diseases X, Marburg virus, Ebola virus, Zika virus, Coronavirus, Chikungunya virus, and Congo-Crimean virus. In the future, research on the epidemiology of the above-listed organisms would help to heighten community awareness and reawaken governments to strengthen health systems to handle epidemics. Thus, I advocate for more studies in high-risk pathogens due to their global health significance.
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My Research Links
I have attached the link to my research article titled:Ebola Virus Disease in sub-Saharan Africa, History, Contemporary Epidemiology and Recommendations. I have also attached other related works on, Dengue, Coronavirus, Cholera and a few articles on health humanities for your scholastic needs.
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