As the deadly disease appears in Congo, Sierra Leone is still counting the cost of its 2014 epidemic.
The Ebola crisis has revealed the consequences of deep-seated, unequal global social and economic relations that international development, as practised in recent decades, has had a role in creating.
Why has the response to Ebola been so weak in Sierra Leone and Liberia? The relationship between elite wealth and foreign aid means that the powers that be in Monrovia and Freetown are in no hurry to end the global media obsession with the Ebola crisis.
Public discourse surrounding the Ebola outbreak is infected by older narratives that seek to stereotype Africa and Africans. The Band Aid initiatives are typical of this: Africa as a country, a place where there is no space for Christmas joy, and a place that needs the west.
In Liberia 75% of those who have been infected or killed from Ebola are women. Last month, a rapid assessment and gender analysis of the outbreak concluded that a gendered perspective on prevention, care, and post admission care is imperative.
The Coalition Government’s healthcare reforms fragment the NHS, making it less able to cope with an epidemic.
The lack of ambulances, hospital beds, and even plastic gloves have all played a role in allowing the disease to get out of control, particularly in the slums of Freetown and Monrovia.
Known to the international community since 1976, why has the world dragged its feet for decades to find a vaccine for Ebola—and where has the money gone for public health research?
