Logistics and Obstacles
Operation United Assistance was set out and sent to Liberia in the year between mid-2014 and mid-2015 and delineates a suitable instance of the manner in which a Joint Force can offer support to a lead federal agency to bring a culmination to the rampant endemic of Ebola Virus disease. Notably, the Ebola endemic outbreak started at the outset of 2013 when a small child about the age of two years old died as a result of hemorrhagic fever. A short while after, several of the child’s relatives and their affiliates that subsisted across the region also became sick and fell to their demise. At the start of 2014, a team hailing from the Institu Pasteur which is situated in France made the confirmation that the spreading disease was the Ebola Virus Disease. The purpose of this paper is to identify logistics obstacles that were faced by United States operations in Liberia that facilitated the response by the United Nations and the United States towards the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak (Boucher, 2018).
In order to provide suitable response to any endemic, it is imperative to lave logistical support. It is perceptible that logistical requirements and necessities in such an environment ought to be in alignment with the necessities if a certain endemic. One of the key obstacles in logistics is the lack of infrastructure. As pointed out by Boucher (2018), the operational setting in Liberia is exceedingly challenging and difficult. This is owing to the fact that it is a small nation but with a working infrastructure that is just about non-existent especially with respect to roads and airfields. Aside from having solely one big airport, the most substantial logistical obstacle faced is the existence of poor quality roads or simply not having any existent roads in the area. One of the key solutions to dealing with...
Secondly, there is the solution of using simple means of transportations such as motor bikes that can be employed to transport urgent medical and food supplies in areas where cars cannot easily go through. What is more, the use of strong and durable means of transportation such as lorries and trucks that can move with ease. Moreover, using local residents who know the area significantly well can be a solution in reaching remote areas.
Another perceptible logistical challenge experienced from the article in the lack of capacity to properly respond to epidemics. This is largely for the reason that the nation’s system of healthcare was practically absent even prior to the epidemic. Statistics indicate that the nation has fewer than one doctor being responsible for more than 1,000 people. In addition, the health ministry for Liberia lacked the capability to track patients, establish public outreach movements, and also educate and provide insight to the general public regarding the spreading endemic of Ebola. Another challenge that restricted logistical endeavors is the fact that the local cultural practices enabled the protraction of the disease for the reason that families more often than not had a preference for having their relatives and loved ones to die at their homesteads and thereafter wash their bodies and bury them. This limits the efforts made by responders owing to the reason that progressively more individuals end up being exposed to the EVD. Taking into consideration restricted health facilities and the increased challenge of reaching these sorts of facilities, the poor road networks together with the costs incurred in transporting patients made it challenging for a…
