The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in the Western part of Africa has led to some negative effects on the economies of affected countries. In this we look at the effects of the virus on businesses.

The deadly Ebola virus has become a pandemic in the West African sub region, killing thousands of people in countries like Liberia, Sierra Leone, DR Congo and Nigeria with a fatality rate of about 90% according to the World Health Organization. The outbreak of the Ebola virus has so far had serious effects on the lives of people in the affected areas both socially and economically. In this article we would concentrate on the economical effects of the Ebola virus disease on businesses.

 

What is Ebola virus disease?

According to Wikipedia the Ebola virus disease is a disease of humans and other primates caused by an Ebola virus.

 

Symptoms of the Ebola virus disease:

The symptoms of the Ebola virus are usually similar to that of a severe fever in humans like Malaria fever or Cholera and normally takes between two days to three weeks after an Ebola patient contracts the virus. Some of the symptoms of the Ebola virus include;

1. Fever
2. Vomiting
3. Diarrhea
4. Nausea
5. Sore throat
6. Muscle pains
7. Headaches
8. Malfunctioning of the liver and kidney
9. Internal and external bleeding

 

The Ebola virus disease can be transmitted from one human to another through body fluids such as sweat and semen through sexual intercourse. The Ebola virus disease has a dire effect on the social and economic environments of affected regions.

 

Economical effects of the Ebola virus disease;

The economical effects the Ebola virus has had on businesses in the affected regions so far cannot be underestimated as several amounts of monies have been lost as a result of the pandemic in the region. Let us take a step by step analysis of the negative effects the virus has had on the economy of the said countries.

Slow economic activities;

The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease has slowed down economic activities in some parts of the affected regions; this is due to the panic of contracting the deadly virus among the people.

The industry to be hit the most by the outbreak of the deadly virus is the transportation industry, as people are afraid to get closer or sit closer to others in a bus as they fear they could get infected with the virus. Owners and drivers of public transport vehicles have complained of drop in revenue as they often don’t get the number of passengers they usually used to get before the outbreak of the virus.

 

Loss of foreign investors;

One of the keys to a successful economy is the investment from foreigners in the economy; hence the need for an enabling environment for these businesses to thrive, however, the outbreak of the Ebola virus in the affected region would only curtail the influx of foreigners (investors) in the country. And also those currently in the country would be seeking an exit strategy in order to avoid contracting the virus.

 

Tourism

Areas in the economy like tourism would be badly affected as tourists would be afraid to move to countries which are known to have outbreak of the virus. The tourism industry would be hugely affected as the Governments of the affected regions would lose millions of Dollars from tourism.

 

The Ebola virus disease is very serious and must not be underestimated, as it could have dire economic and social effects on affected regions and the World economy as a whole. This is why the World Health organization is very particular about bringing the spread of the Ebola virus disease under control in the affect area, while awaiting a cure of the deadly virus.