Yahoo – AFP,
Richard Ingham and Elisabeth Zingg, 26 Oct 2014
 |
A newspaper
vendor sells copies of the New York Post in front of the entrance
to Bellevue
Hospital October 24, 2014 in New York (AFP Photo/Timothy A. Clary)
|
Paris (AFP)
- Beyond the human tragedy of the Ebola epidemic unfolding in west Africa, the
crisis is claiming a collateral victim: trust in the medical order.
The biggest
casualty is the reputation of the UN's World Health Organization (WHO), which
analysts fault for foot-dragging and misjudgements.
Also under
assault are Big Pharma, the West's aid policies in Africa and public faith in
the rich world's lavishly funded health systems.
 |
World
Health Organization (WHO) Assistant
Director General for Health Systems and
Innovation Marie Paule Kieny gestures
during a press conference on Ebola
vaccines on October 21, 2014 at the
United Nations offices in Geneva (AFP
Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)
|
"If
the Ebola epidemic does not spur major reforms, it will undermine the
credibility of (the) WHO and the UN, and enable the conditions for future
crises to persist."
Patrick
Zylberman, a historian of medicine at France's National Centre for Scientific
Research (CNRS), said the WHO had been slow to heed warnings from frontline
groups such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF, Doctors Without Borders).
"Everyone
agrees there was a delayed response, which is partly responsible for the scale
of the epidemic today," Zylberman said.
It took the
WHO until August 8 to press the global alarm button, when it declared the
outbreak to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, or PHEIC.
That was 20
weeks after the first suspected cases emerged in the world's worst outbreak of
haemorrhagic fever -- "a terrible delay," Zylberman said.
Always
running to catch up, the WHO in April estimated needs to tackle Ebola at $4.8
million, which in July it raised to $71 million before hiking it to $490
million in August. A few weeks later, the UN launched an appeal for $988
million.
Zylberman
said the WHO could plead mitigating circumstances -- it is just the sum of the
nation-states that oversee it.
Staffing in
its infectious diseases department has fallen from 95 to 30 people, partly
because of a decision to shift resources to non-transmissible diseases such as
cancer, he said.
Its
operational budget is just a third of that of the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC). And just 30 percent of the funds are controlled
by the WHO itself.
In 2011,
the budget was cut by nearly $600 million, causing a reduction in the WHO's
emergency response units, and some of its epidemic control experts left.
The WHO has
promised to carry out a full review of its handling of the Ebola crisis after
the epidemic is under control.
Another
failure, say critics, has been priorities for drug research.
Big Pharma
pours billions into exploring cures for obesity, diabetes, heart disease,
cholesterol, Alzheimer's, impotence and even baldness.
But, with
the exception of military-funded projects, there was negligible interest in
Ebola, which struck rarely and claimed few lives -- all of them in poor tropical
Africa.
"Ebola
Vaccine At Least 50 White People Away," the satirical US news site The
Onion headlined on July 30.
Vaccines
are now being rushed into trials at unprecedented speed and will be rolled out
if they are deemed safe and effective. If things go wrong, the medical
establishment may have another nightmare on its hands.
Dud
strategy?
Public
health experts also say Ebola spread in part because of inadequate or
misdirected aid.
Lacking
basic resources -- even gowns, masks and latex gloves -- Liberia, Sierra Leone
and Guinea were sitting ducks.
 |
A health
worker wearing a protective suit is sprayed down at the Medecins sans
Frontieres Ebola treatement centre near the main Donka hospital in Conakry on
September 25, 2014 (AFP Photo/Cellou Binani)
|
Because of
porous borders and jet travel, Ebola became a global scare. The final bill may
far outstrip what it would have cost to stop the outbreak at the onset.
"In
the last decade, less than two percent of international aid dedicated to health
in Liberia has been provided for basic health infrastructure, training health
workers and public health education," said Sebastian Taylor at Britain's
University of East Anglia.
"Stronger
investments in building basic health capacity in countries like Liberia will be
key to containing the risk of similar outbreaks in the future."
In Europe
and North America, only a handful of Ebola cases have surfaced.
Yet several
fumbles and dread of the disease have chipped away at public confidence.
A Pew
Research poll conducted among more than 2,000 US adults between October 15 and
20 found that 54 percent had little or no concern about getting Ebola. In early
October, that figure was 58 percent.
Seeking to
shore up confidence, US President Barack Obama has appointed an Ebola
"czar," hugged a nurse who recovered from the disease, and urged the
public to remain calm and be "guided by the science -- the facts, not
fear."
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Obama gives a hug to Dallas nurse Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the
White House on Friday. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images |
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