News

Plus rubber gloves and troops and healthcare workers

The Guardian newspaper recently published a compendium of the global financial response to the western African Ebola outbreak. It makes interesting reading as to which nations, organizations and NGOs are contributing finances. For example, the UK has pledged £125 million and 750 army personnel, the USA $350 million and 4,000 troops, Malaysia will donate 21 million rubber gloves, Timor Leste has pledged $1 million, Cuba will send 165 health professionals. The Paul Allen Fund donated $18.4 million, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $50 million.

But who is donating anything to prevent the bushmeat trade (the source of the virus) and who is donating anything to discovering what wildlife species are responsible for transmitting the disease to humans?

We are groping in the dark about the source of the virus. Fruit bats and monkeys have been proposed, but not definitively identified. Unless and until the source of the virus is discovered and the bushmeat trade halted with alternatives, all those millions will just put out another fire and not address the source.

And those millions will have to be spent again for the next inevitable outbreak?

Picture credit:  http://bit.ly/1ETOiLK 

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