The documentary on Ebola really opened my eyes to what was really happening with the Ebola crisis. I really didn't know much outside what was circulated in the U.S. media, which missed most of the Ebola outbreak and didn't really start covering the disease until it came to the U.S. I think after watching the documentary I came away with a few thoughts on the Ebola crisis and outbreak.
My first was why did the WHO and Governments act in the way they did? It seemed that mostly no one knew what they were doing when it came to Ebola, but they did not want to admit it. Companies such as Metabiota were tasked with containing Ebola in a country, even though they had little knowledge of it and were too small to deal with it. In the documentary, a representative from Metabiota even admitted that the company was too small to even make the smallest of impact. Guinea was under reporting their cases of Ebola, and only reported those with lab tested cases. This contributed to the spread of the disease because they were not properly containing it. With them even admitting that they didn't know what they were doing and that they were out of their element, I am extremely confused as to why they didn't reach out for more help.
This lead to my next point, which was when they did reach out for help the help didn't really help. The WHO was not equipped to deal with this situation. And I understand that Ebola might not be something that they are always prepared for because there are more pressing day to day concerns. But when they knew that it was getting out of their hands, they did not call for help. The West Africa WHO contemplated calling for a global health crisis but did not want to cause panic or chaos... why on earth would you be worried about causing panic when you have a disease that can't be contained and is killing more and more everyday. When it finally reached the first world countries, over night it became a global health crisis. I believe that the "west" knew about Ebola, there is no way that they didn't . But they subscribed to the "out of sight out of mind philosophy", but when it came knocking they did something. It is sad to see this kind of behavior from a supposed global community. How can the world become a better place when countries refuse to help each other unless it becomes their immediate problem?
Andrew I find that this blog post really relates to the comments I made in class today about society being designed by certain people for certain people and how certain identities are privileged over others. Why did this not make the news? I would venture to say because Western media doesn't make a ton of money reporting on the deaths of poor people of color in West Africa. Why did no one ask for help? Maybe because funding wasn't likely until the disease was contracted by a person in the United States. Prioritizing certain kinds of life or other life is a constant theme that runs through nearly everything from beauty standards to drones to disease. I'm happy you're angry/upset that this occurs. In my opinion, we all should be.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Mary Grace. I don't think the Ebola epidemic was a front page story when it first broke out because the media and most of the United States are unaffected by impoverished people in Africa. However, the second there is a case in the United States, funding and awareness sky rocket. It was the same with the Swine Flu almost a decade ago and it is the same with the Zika virus now. I think governments of Africa did not want to declare a health risk in their country because it instantly opens the door to either rioting and looting or the Western countries will step in to provide services then it will be an "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" situation of repaying favors.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Mary Grace. The fact it wasn't a front page story is sad, it desperately needed to be. I do think that this highlighted the conversation we had at the beginning of the year in that security is a speech act. When the WHO admitted it was an epidemic, the issue became a front page story and national governments were reacting with massive amounts of money and man power. This should have become a bigger topic of discussion earlier then it did, and I commend you for being upset about this, because we all should.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Mary Grace. The fact it wasn't a front page story is sad, it desperately needed to be. I do think that this highlighted the conversation we had at the beginning of the year in that security is a speech act. When the WHO admitted it was an epidemic, the issue became a front page story and national governments were reacting with massive amounts of money and man power. This should have become a bigger topic of discussion earlier then it did, and I commend you for being upset about this, because we all should.
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