The following editorials address issues surrounding the Ebola outbreak in Africa.

Financial Times: The aid needed to stop Ebola’s spread
Editorial Board

“…If there is one international organization that is facing up to the task at hand, it is the Nobel Prize-winning agency Médecins Sans Frontières [(MSF)]. … MSF says the disease is spiraling out of control and its own staff are stretched to breaking point. More help is needed, including epidemiologists, disaster management teams, and physicians. Finances must be made available so that local medical staff are rewarded for the risks they take. … The world should be standing with the people of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea and helping their governments to establish the requisite controls to staunch the spread of Ebola. It is not the moment to cut and run” (8/25).

The Lancet Infectious Diseases: Ebola in West Africa
Editorial Board

“The high case fatality, terrible hemorrhagic symptoms, and lack of vaccine or cure explain the fear that Ebola provokes. Yet the notion of a global outbreak of Ebola, fostered by parts of the mass media, seems unjustified. … It’s worth noting that human Ebola transmission has never occurred outside [of] Africa. Sadly, the fragility of health systems is one reason why Ebola is proving hard to stop in West Africa. … The epidemic reinforces the need for nations to invest in health infrastructure and disease surveillance to keep pace with other developments in Africa. Efforts to contain Ebola should not divert resources from more mundane infections, such as malaria, which have a far higher long-term disease burden” (September 2014).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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