Gold Coast Influenza Epidemic

The Gold Coast Influenza Epidemic was an influenza epidemic in Gold Coast (modern day Ghana) in 1918–1919, which killed more than 100,000 people in six months.{{Cite journal|last=Patterson|first=K. David|date=October 1983|title=The Influenza Epidemic of 1918–19 in the Gold Coast1|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-african-history/article/influenza-epidemic-of-191819-in-the-gold-coast1/93EFCA1CDC9FC2735A289728934E628C|journal=The Journal of African History|language=en|volume=24|issue=4|pages=485–502|doi=10.1017/S0021853700028012|pmid=11675764|s2cid=43840147 |issn=1469-5138|url-access=subscription}} Globally, 20 million people died from the outbreak in 1918.{{Cite web|url=https://www.blakkpepper.com/2016/11/the-gold-coast-influenza-epidemic-of-1918-1919-which-killed-100000-people/|title=The Gold Coast Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 which killed 100,000 people|last=ghana|first=Michael Eli Dokosi-www blakkpepper com-|date=2016-11-24|website=BlakkPepper.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-23}}{{Cite journal|last=PATTERSON|first=K. DAVID|title=The Influenza Epidemic of 1918-1919 in the Gold Coast|date=1995|journal=Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana|volume=24|issue=1 (Vol. 16, no. 2)|pages=205–225|doi=10.1017/s0021853700028012|jstor=41406618|pmid=11675764|s2cid=43840147 |issn=0855-3246}} In the local parlance it was called "mfruensa" by the unschooled members of the society.{{Cite book|last1=Botchway|first1=De-Valera NYM|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aPN0DwAAQBAJ&q=gold+coast+influenza&pg=PA159|title=Africa and the First World War: Remembrance, Memories and Representations after 100 Years|last2=Kwarteng|first2=Kwame Osei|date=2018-10-26|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-5275-2042-4|language=en}}

The Gold Coast Influenza strain was a genetic mutation of a regional virus known as swine influenza. The people living in the Gold Coast area had never come in contact with the new strain of influenza, so nobody was considered immune. The situation became worse because the health system of this British colony was understaffed and financially burdened. In 1919, the whole colony reportedly had only 43 physicians working in the public health sector.

Influenza

Influenza is a respiratory disease that primarily affects the lungs, nose, and mouth. The 1918-1919 epidemic killed approximately 2% of Africa's total population.{{Cite web|title=Influenza Pandemic (Africa) {{!}} International Encyclopedia of the First World War (WW1)|url=https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/influenza_pandemic_africa|website=encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net|access-date=2020-05-04}} The Gold Coast Influenza strain was a genetic mutation of a virus in the region known as swine influenza. The people living in the Gold Coast area had never come in contact with the new strain of influenza, so nobody was considered immune. Being completely unprepared for a full-scale epidemic due to war preparations, the Gold Coast was left understaffed and financially burdened.

Influenza Hits the Gold Coast

There was a previous pandemic of 1889-1893 which reached the Gold Coast in 1891.David Scott,Epidemic Disease in Ghana 1901 - 1960 (London,1965),p.187.In 1918 the Principal Medical Officer suggested that the 1891 outbreak might have been pneumonia plague (M.S.R.,1918,p.14),but this seems highly unlikey (Scott,Epidemic Disease,p.188). However, it did not prepare the Coast for the epidemic that spread through the region in the 1910s.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}

The governor of Sierra Leone sent a message to the governor of Ghana on 28 August 1918 of an influenza outbreak and measures are to be taken because vessels coming from Accra or Sierra Leone are infected. The message arrived late. The American vessel S.S Shonga arrived in Cape Coast on August 31, 1918. The spread of the influenza virus caused schools, mosques and churches to close down. It is recorded that an estimated 100,00 people died of symptoms related to influenza out of the 1,504,000 recorded in 1911 census. Because the Gold Coast was experiencing a dry season in the Northern area, residents were at a greater risk for infection, hence the higher mortality rate. The only reported attempts to slow the spread of disease on behalf of the government involved quarantines, but it was not strictly enforced enough to put a quick end to the epidemic. It wasn't until 1950 that doctors found a vaccine that fought the strain, more than 30 years after the spread.

The whole colony by 1919 had 43 government physicians; 5 of them were administrators and 5 were vacant position.Gold Coast Medical and sanitary Report for 1919 (henceforth M.S.R),P.6. The government boys' school was now the hospital with a Principal Medical officer who was given 500 pounds to care for the sick.Prin.M.O to Colonial Secretary,Accra, 17 September 1918,ibid After recording several fatalities they were buried in a single grave regardless of the strong African criticisms at the height of the epidemic.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}