June 3 is always a national public holiday in Uganda because of Martyrs’ Day. It commemorates a group of young men – Catholic and Anglican – who were killed between 1885 and 1887 in the kingdom of Buganda, the present-day central Uganda. But this year’s Martyrs’ Day was not celebrated in the usual way as would-be pilgrims in Uganda and those who were to come from neighbouring countries, have not been allowed to converge at Namugongo, where the martyrs were killed, because of concerns over Ebola. According to the Ministry of Health, Uganda has confirmed 15 cases and reported one death since the Ebola outbreak was first reported in May in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ebola is one of the most dangerous diseases and has ravaged Uganda from time to time. In 2000, the country suffered its worst outbreak, which saw 224 people killed in months, according to the World Health Organisation. The DRC, where the rampaging virus originated, is particularly prone to Ebola and has lost far more people than many of its neighbours combined. The WHO estimates the country has lost no fewer than 3,000 people to Ebola since the first outbreak in 1976.
Each time Ebola strikes, people look to healthcare providers and global public health institutions, such as the WHO, to bring the virus under control. They do not turn to God even though religious people insist he loves people. Without healthcare providers and the scientific knowledge they rely on to manage Ebola, the situation would quickly get out of hand, and thousands of people would die at every turn. Religious people will continue telling us that God loves us all. But Ebola and many other forms of suffering people have to endure strongly suggest we live in a world where we are our own protectors.
Let us begin from the simple premise that Ebola is not even created by people. It is caused by a virus. While some viruses can be manufactured in labs, the Ebola virus is part of nature, part of the many things God has created. As the creator of everything living and non-living, He takes credit for making the Ebola virus. And He created the Ebola virus knowing full well – He is supposed to be all-knowing – that it would kill people. It does nothing but kill. It kills indiscriminately. Children who are too young to know what life means, why they are on this planet, can be victims.
Ebola will only fail to kill if it is stopped by people, not God. And we all agree that science has been and remains our most effective defence against it.If we have to use science to defend ourselves against a virus we did not create, we would be wrong to go around claiming that the Lord loves us. He does not. Science has protected us in ways that deserve more recognition and appreciation than they get. God may be all around us 24/7, as religious people claim, but He will never tell someone suffering from high blood pressure that they have a serious health problem.
The reason healthcare providers call high blood pressure a ‘silent killer’ is that it damages your organs, like the heart when you do not know. If you know nothing about how blood pressure is diagnosed, you can easily be killed by this disease even when you kneel down every day to pray for longevity. If God did not want people to suffer from high blood pressure, he would eliminate it. But if people can only find out they have the disease after being examined by doctors, it just shows science is the real protector.
As Ugandan healthcare providers continue the fight against Ebola, they should always remember that the best protection comes from systems humans build. They should leave nothing to chance. God loves and protects people in theory; never in practice.