We Could Have Stopped This (Ebola)

[cbayer]

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/05/we_could_have_stopped_this_ebola_virus_world_health_organization

Public health officials knew Ebola was coming. They know how to defeat it. But they’re blowing it anyway.

BY LAURIE GARRETT
SEPTEMBER 5, 2014



World, you still just don't get it. The Ebola epidemic that is raging across West Africa, killing more than half its victims, will not be conquered with principles of global solidarity and earnest appeals. It will not be stopped with dribbling funds, dozens of volunteer health workers, and barriers across national borders. And the current laboratory-confirmed tolls (3,944 cases, with 2,097 deaths) will soon rise exponentially.

To understand the scale of response the world must mount in order to stop Ebola's march across Africa (and perhaps other continents), the world community needs to immediately consider the humanitarian efforts following the 2004 tsunami and its devastation of Aceh, Indonesia. The U.S. and Singaporean militaries launched their largest rescue missions in history: The United States alone put 12,600 military personnel to a rescue and recovery mission, including the deployment of nearly the entire Pacific fleet, 48 helicopters, and every Navy hospital ship in the region. The World Bank estimated that some $5 billion in direct aid was poured into the countries hard hit by the tsunami, and millions more were raised from private donors all over the world. And when the dust settled and reconstruction commenced, the affected countries still cried out for more.

In contrast, the soaring Ebola epidemic garnered only a negligible international response from its recognition in March until early July. The outbreak originated in the tropical rain forest of Guinea in December 2013, but local health authorities did not recognize the new disease in humans in the country until four months later. They can be forgiven a slow reaction, as Ebola has never previously appeared in the West African region. Shortly after the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared an outbreak of the same strain of Ebola that first appeared in Zaire in 1976, outside humanitarian responders appeared on the scene to assist Guinea; they were the organizations that dominated the treatment and prevention efforts throughout the spring and into the summer, as Ebola spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. During that time the outbreaks were largely rural, confined to easily isolated communities, and could have been stopped with inexpensive, low-technology approaches.

But the world largely ignored the unfolding epidemic, even as the sole major international responder, Doctors Without Borders (also known by its French acronym, MSF), pleaded for help and warned repeatedly that the virus was spreading out of control. The WHO was all but AWOL, its miniscule epidemic-response department slashed to smithereens by three years of budget cuts, monitoring the epidemic's relentless growth but taking little real action.

more at link

[tblue37]

1. KnR. nt

[daleanime]

2. K&R....

[Orsino]

3. Onion.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/experts-ebola-vaccine-at-least-50-white-people-awa,36580/

[Enthusiast]

4. ...

[valerief]

5. Ebola, global warming, many cancers. All preventable, but all may keep

very rich people from getting richer. Just look at what an ebola vaccine/cure could do for some rich person's investment. But first, it has to become a marketable AND STEADY threat, a new AIDS.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. Kicking. Thank you. nt

[longship]

7. An excellent, informative article by Laurie Garret.

She is one of the best informed journalists on the planet on epidemics like this.

Highly recommended click through.

[dembotoz]

8. was wondering why the respones was so pathetic--ebola is sort of the grand daddy of awful

and we just sat on our ass as it proceeded to get out of control

we (humans) are way stupid

[cbayer]

14. It is really tragic all the way around.

[G_j]

9. K&R!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Do you think there would be this lukewarm response if the outbreak threatened to wipe out blondes?

[cbayer]

11. Of course not.

This is unspeakably tragic.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

21. You obviously haven't been listening to RW Talk Radio....

EVERYTHING is political to the Right Wing in this country and they actually telling their middle aged white male audience that black people are stupid for supporting Obama because he hasn't done anything for them, including stopping this outbreak.

Keep in mind that black people don't buy this crap but they aren't the target audience for sponsors like E-Trade.

[grahamhgreen]

12. Only if they were gay.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

18. Our president is black

He's been pretty slow in responding to this, and I don't blame him. He has a lot on his plate, and, frankly, I think most people look at past outbreaks that have been contained, and assume that the same is going to happen here.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

20. It's another case of Republicans dragging their feet....

They refuse to do ANYTHING and then claim Obama is a failure for being unable to get them to do anything.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

22. The Repugs won't give him the amount he asked for

Screw them.

Right now, we need a worldwide mobilization to combat this outbreak. I don't know who takes charge, but our president has a lot of power to get the ball rolling.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

23. There is something in the Right Wing mindset that endorses genocide.

[LeftyMom]

15. A friend and I were talking about how the shortage of gloves and bleach is contributing

That's an amazing case of being penny wise and pound foolish. I mean really, a horrific disease is spreading because nobody's stepped up to the plate to make sure anybody in the region who is caring for the sick has gloves, bleach, plastic sheeting, bedding, etc. Cheap, cheap stuff that could save a lot of lives, but that's prohibitively expensive for the poor communities where people are used to caring for their own sick, if it can be found at all.

It's not an easily transmitted disease. Some pretty basic precautions would have done a lot of good, and they would have been a lot cheaper than the care of the few infected westerners has been, no doubt.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

17. But Isn't The Main Problem

I think one of the main problems is transport. Shipments are blocked due to semi-quarantine measures. Yes, it is totally stupid.

And I think it is easier to transmit this disease than you indicate. Wouldn't you say that anything that requires more than a face mask, gloves, and proper hygiene is easily transmitted.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. Ebola can spread through open sewage....

Look what we're up against there as well...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/sierraleone/11001610/Ebola-outbreak-fight-against-disease-hampered-by-belief-in-witchcraft-warns-British-doctor.html

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

16. CNN Just Showed A Map

CNN just showed a map of which areas on the continent are at risk right now, and it was scary. Africa is a HUGE continent, and with cases spread out like that, how do you get enough medical personnel to treat effectively? Considering how many medical personnel are contracting this disease, people who might normally volunteer may not.

[greatlaurel]

19. This is a very well done analysis of the crisis.

Thank you for posting this article. Very disturbing.