What We’re Afraid to Say About Ebola

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55. Too little, too late?

Most of the news about the ebola outbreak has been late, copied from AP, or very limited. Just like the response to this crisis by the developed countries. Some of the media (NYTimes, Wash Post, VOA, Al Jazeera, Foreign Policy), have recently printed harsh editorials about the coverage and response of the developed countries, including the US. But generally it has been only WHO (budget drastically cut), CDC, Unicef, and the great NGOs like MSF (Doctors Without Borders) showing and telling the sad stories of the suffering, lack of coordination of agencies, the slowness of the response, and the pitiful amount of money, equipment and numbers of health workers compared to the need. We can understand the fears of risk of journalists, airlines, professionals, politicians and corporations, but wars, serial killers, wildfires, hurricanes, tsunamis, and earthquakes never seemed to stop them from reporting.

Obama has spoken out a number of times and will visit the CDC next Tuesday for a report, but the House has been holding up even the small amount of money he requested to send workers, equipment and research for a vaccine. And the US has approved the severe cuts to the UN World Health Organization and USAID. This week Obama said he would order the military into West Africa to build "hospitals" and guard workers but the affected countries soon learned they would build 25-bed stations for foreign health workers, not for African ebola patients. Bill Gates is contributing almost as much money as the US; Cuba has trained and sent more doctors and nurses than the wealthy countries.

One other note: the largest oil, silver, gold, rare earth mineral and lumber companies in the US and the world have been looting Africa's rich resources for years, exploiting African workers, polluting the air, water and land, and taking their billions in profit home to shareholders and executives. Have we heard yet what they are going to contribute toward containing this plague and caring for the workers it is affecting?

Maybe our only hope is that when the 1%ers, the politicians, big pharma, big oil and big gold notice that ebola might effect their families, their bottom line, their wall street stocks, or cheap labor they will decide to do the right thing.