It is often declared that history has often shifted upon the results of great battles, both in war and among competing political philosophies . Presidents, kings, and dictators are often regarded as those who impact a state’s and societal development, but the most influential actor that outlines the narrative of history are diseases. Whether it is black plague of the middle ages or the emergence of HIV and AIDS in late twentieth century infectious diseases have shaped the way the world interacts . Currently the world is experiencing the larges outbreak of Ebola ever recorded and has transformed politics, public health, and economies around the globe.
First described in 1976, Ebola, has captured the western media imagination and raised questions about how the international community should respond, intervene, and treat infectious outbreaks. The Ebola virus first emerged in two concurrent outbreaks in the heart of Africa, in Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, occurring in a village near the Ebola River, from the virus takes the name . Extremely infectious the morality rate is below forty percent in most cases.
Since its discovery, there have been several outbreaks but in its latest cycle, which began in March of 2014 ,there have been more cases and deaths in this than all others combined. According to the World Health Organization has identified 1,048 cases of the disease in West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, and Nigeria and in recent months has spread as far as the United States and Spain since the epidemic began in February (“Ebola Diagnosis”).
With the number of Ebola cases continuing to increase, it is has become an essential goal for local governments and the international organizations take concerted actions stop the outbreak, treat the infected, and preserve stability across state boundaries. There has been widespeard speculation about the emergence of Ebola . Many scientist and health officals regard the initial line of infection of derives from the poaching of wild game, known as “bushmeat. ”
“Bushmeat” refers to meat that comes from wild animals captured in developing regions of the world such as Africa. As a main source a major of protein for rural areas in Africa comes form a variety of wild animals including fruit bats, non-human primates and other forest animals. According to World Health Organization, “Ebola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood, secretions, organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals” (“Ebola Diagnosis”) .
Though, Ebola is not spread by food, human infections are associated with hunting, butchering, and consumption of meat from infected animals. Lofa , a dense jungle province in Liberia lies on the border Liberia , Sierra Leone and Guinea is a trading center where poachers in the jungle provide bushmeat for all three neighboring countries As a result , in a attempt to stop the spread of this fatal virus West African governments have outlawed the purchase , sell and trade of this practice.
As global health professionals work to educate and target detrimental behavioral changes to reduce the danger of the Ebola the discontinuance unhealthy cultural practices are crucical to promote and progress a systematic universal health standard. This outbreak is taking its toll on Western Africa health as well as their collective economies. Emergency aid for treatment clinics as well as hazard pay for medical workers has extracted fund from exhausted government budgets. Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea are among the most vulnerable markets in Africa , and according to a study produced by the World Bank this epidemic could cost up to thirty-two billion dollars over the next two years for these fragile states (World Bank).
The agricultural sector contributes fifty-seven percent of Sierra Leone’s Gross Domestic Product , along with thirty-nine percent In Liberia and twenty percent of Guinea’s according to the United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization. (“Protect and Build” 3). That heart of the economy of these nations’ is in serious jeopardy as rice, sugar , cocoa harvests decline due to the introduction of state mandated curfews, the reduction labor participation, and disrupted transportation.
The most damaging aspect for these countries’ economies is fear. According to the British Broadcasting Corporation Sierra Leone, Cameroon and host country Morocco have called for the postponement of the 2015 African Cup of Nations which is one of Africa’s largest sporting events which generates millions of dollars . Abandoned farms have driven up the price of food leaving thousands hungry and inflation has skyrocketed . Ebola has the potential to reverse the decades of economic progression built the developing world.
This outbreak is an reminder that the social infrastructure of the third world needs to increase despite rapid economic growth and investment. In the face of the growing global endeavor to fight Ebola, international organizations and non government institutions like the Red Cross and the World Bank have been slow to acknowledge the developing issue which could have prevented a substantial amount of suffering with earlier intervention . Tragic sluggish responding from the United Nations, Economic Community of West African States are among those who were responsible.
The Ebola outbreak was not an topic discussion at Pan-African Parliament in South Africa eliciting protest and riots through out Sierra Leone and Liberia . African governments and institutions have only provided minimal support as the continent faces its most deadly threat in decades. Mislead by experience of previous Ebola outbreaks both government and health officials did not grasp the potential scale of pandemic. According to the Washington Post, the World Health Organization did not declare this crisis a global emergency on August 8, 2014, four and half months after the initial outbreak. (WP) “We are not moving fast enough.
We are not doing enough,” declared by President of United States of America Barack Obama on the Ebola outbreak at a at the General Assembly of United Nations in September of 2014 ( Landler and Sengupta ) . This proclamation has prompted established states’ and organizations to assist in the relief of West Africa. According to the United Nations, The European Union has pledged almost 200,000 dollars and has deployed mobile labs to the countries worst affected to help with diagnosis and training.
While Canada has designated that more than two million dollars worth of medical equipment to West Africa and China will expand its medical staff in Sierra Leone, one of the worst hit nations (UN) . Ebola has exposed weaknesses in the global health networks and a failure to work together has transformed the notion this crisis of African health to international health. The Ebola crisis in West Africa is rising as more people are become infected. Though global efforts to contain the outbreak and care for patients are ramping up somewhat, from other countries and intergovernmental institutions.
But in the wake of two infected states outside of Africa , nations and international organizations have called for partial quarantine of the three African countries where Ebola is thriving. According to Al Jazeera , a middle eastern media network, Saudi Arabia has ceased issuing visas to residents of Guinea and Liberia during April of 2014, while neighboring African nations closed their borders, and others, including South Africa and Kenya, restricted and outright banned travel to the infected countries (Wolfson). Though some of these nation-states might cite these measures as necessary precaution to keep their nation safe it ultimately the potential to do more harm than good.
The isolation of West Africa has further setbacks and complicates the foreign response . This temporary solution to a persistent and increasing problem will only delay the inevitable speard Ebola and destabilize countries at the heart of the outbreak. Ebola related fears, in the United States, Europe and the majority of Africa have risen significantly due to the media hysteria . Global news outlets like CNN, BBC, and Fox News have provoked panic in the global community with excessive and irresponsible news reports. Global health official are battling for control of the media narrative about Ebola as conditions worsen in West Africa and fears of an outbreak mount in the United States, Europe and the Middle East.
But those assurances are falling flat amid wall-to- wall coverage of the virus on cable networks and growing calls for a ban on air travel to parts of West Africa where the virus is spreading. These volatile and often redundant accounts of television, radio, and social media reports have damaged the efforts of states and international organizations to aid in relief. The coverage that the Ebola outbreak has consumed in the mainstream media, comparatively little of it has been allocated to the countries that is actually being afflicted with the pandemic.
Intense media coverage has allowed the world to see what can happen when a lethal and deeply dreaded virus takes root in a setting of extreme poverty and dysfunctional health systems. The world is seeing the outbreak’s multiple human tragedies: abandoned rural villages and orphaned children, economic and social disruption in capital cities, extreme daily hardship in the quarantine zones, riots, uncollected bodies, and above all, the unprecedented number of medical staff who risked their lives and lost them.
The primary objective for now is African governments and global institutions must be prevent future outbreak, restore economic stability and social cohesion . The Ebola pandemic plaguing West Africa and global health can be resolved with the revamp of international health organizations and joint cooperation of states’, and intergovernmental associations in the immediate deployment of manpower into the affected countries. The United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response coalition together with the World Health Organization initiated its “70-70-60” plan in which seventy percent of patients will be isolated , seventy percent of the deceased due to Ebola to be buried with appropriate security measures, so that no one infected at the corpse and both of these measures will be happen in sixty days .
Third world states such as Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia are subsequently inadequate to handle this current outbreak alone. A threat to health in Western Africa is subsequently a threat to global health . Frist, Nations and International Organizations must continue to identify the infected. According to the Center of the Disease Control , “Diagnosing Ebola in a person who has been infected for only a few days is difficult because the early symptoms, such as fever, are nonspecific to Ebola infection and often are seen in patients with more common diseases, such as malaria and typhoid fever” (CDC).
This troublesome fact makes it difficult for physicans to classify this disease and many cases go untreated or misdiagnosed. Controlling the virus at its epicenter in in the most afflicted regions and reducing the second-hand impact of the epidemic is at the heart of the problem . As long as the outbreak is flourishing in West Africa there will ultimately be more outbreaks regardless of travel bans, and inspect every international traveler for symptoms.
Secondly the development of a vass global health coalition that will develop medical infrastructure so the third world will be prepared over the long run to fight deadly but curable diseases. Nations-states and international organizations must make it there priority not just to provide medical aid to stricken regions but also to improve the health conditions in which Africans and the third world lives. Without the appropriate medical infrastructure, disease will continue to ravage the third world and repress economic and social progress.
Lastly to sustain and prevent future outbreak, nation’s must identify patients and medical personels with both a history of traveling to and from West Africa or have been contact with any individuals who have be involved with with a confirmed case of Ebola . Health officials having the ability to effectively track people with symptoms gives them isolate people who effectively display symptoms will contain and this done effectively will reduce and contain the overall impact of this outbreak. As violent as we can be towards one another, throughout history the biggest executioner of the human race has been deadly disease.
Experience tells us that Ebola outbreaks can be contained, even without a vaccine or cure. Nonetheless, with the formidable combination of poverty, dysfunctional health systems, and fear at work, no one is talking about an early end to the outbreak. The international community will need to gear up for many more months of massive, coordinated, and targeted assistance. A humane world cannot let the people of West Africa suffer on such an extraordinary scale. The Ebola outbreak with the help of citizens all around the globle will be contained but sadly at a very high cost.
In today’s world , with the realities of globalization with , mass communications and rapidly improvement in technology the presence of communicable diseases is a threat to all humans, not just limited to the existence of countries or continents. If we are going to enjoy the vast benefits of a integrated world we must deal we must live in a global health community that’s benefits all . Works Cited “Ebola Diagnosis. ” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 05 Nov. 2014. Web. 07 Nov. 2014. “Ebola Virus Disease. ” World Health Orginization. N. p. , n. d. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. Faul, Michelle. “Africans Worst Responders in Ebola Crisis.
” Houston Chronicle. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. “The Global Response. ” UN News Center. UN, n. d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. “In Race against Time, Member States Must Increase Efforts to Stop Ebola Outbreak. ” United Nations News Center. United Nations. 1-7 14 Oct. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. Landler, Mark, and Somini Sengupta. “Global Response to Ebola Is Too Slow, Obama Warns. ” The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Sept. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. McNulty, Phil. “Morocco Will Not Host Cup of Nations. ” BBC Sport. N. p. , n. d. Web. 11 Nov. 2014. “Protect and Build. ” Protect and Build : FAO in Emergencies.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, n. d. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. Lena H. Sun, Brady Dennis, Lenny Bernstein, Joel Achenbach. “How Ebola Sped out of Control. ” Washington Post. The Washington Post, n. d. Web. 08 Nov. 2014. Wolfson, Elijah. “Isolating Ebola-affected Nations Could Worsen Outbreak, Experts Say | Al Jazeera America. ” Isolating Ebola-affected Nations Could Worsen Outbreak, Experts Say | Al Jazeera America. N. p. , 10 Oct. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2014. “World Bank Group Ebola Response Fact Sheet. ” World Bank. 1-4. , 30 Oct. 2014. Web. 09 Nov. 2014.