Tepid Ebola Response Continues

The World Health Organization today announced that the "transmission of the Ebola virus...is increasing exponentially (in Liberia)."  And even more concerning is the statement that "as soon as a new Ebola treatment facility is opened, it immediately fills to overflowing with patients, pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload."

What was a psychological barrier in my mind of 2000 deaths has been surpassed with hardly a ripple in various media.  Ebola was not a trending topic on Google or Twitter or Facebook.  What is trending is the news that Kate Middleton is experiencing morning sickness, news of Jack the Ripper's identity being confirmed and Serena Williams who won US Open, among others.  Two thousand one hundred people have died thus far.

In case you're wondering, I know I was, the Ebola epidemic first appeared in March of this year.  A total of 6 months.  It has steadily widened in the number of countries it has affected and has claimed a lot of lives thus far.  Besides the hardest hit three nations of Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, Nigeria and Senegal have also been affected.

I admit that my opinion on this is not at all scientific but it would appear that the only time the Ebola epidemic in West Africa makes the news is when a health care worker from Europe or North America is infected.  And then, inevitably, the focus goes from the news of the moment to the tragedy of the "good doctor" who risked his life to be in West Africa.

What gets lost is that the health worker in question is not just fighting a disease over there somewhere but is also protecting us over here by being over there.  I'm not negating the charitable aspect or the personal sacrifices being made, but where is the concerted Western response?  Because, lets admit, Africa does not have the capacity to deal with this health crisis on it's own.  Sad to say but true.

At the beginning of the outbreak, Liberia had one doctor for every 100,000 people.  That number continues to dwindle as native born health workers also become infected and die.  In it's news release, WHO further states, "that the demands of the Ebola outbreak have completely outstripped the (Liberian) government’s and partners’ capacity to respond."

In only one of the 15 counties in Liberia a 1000 beds are needed but only 240 are available leading to people being turned away(!) from the facility.  People then return to their homes to be cared for by family, who in turn, become infected.

The American response to the need for beds has been to announce that a specialized field hospital with a capacity of 25 beds would be flown to West Africa, while the British government has pledged a 50 bed facility.  To be sure, these are not clinics meant to give flu shots and deal with paper cuts but are highly specialized and expensive undertakings.  Nevertheless, too little is too little and one would hope not too late.

In a BBC report only three days ago, Dr Christopher Dye, the director of strategy in the office of the director general at the World Health Organization was quoted as saying, "If current trends persist we would be seeing not hundreds of cases per week, but thousands of cases per week and that is terribly disturbing."