West making near zero response to Ebola crisis

Doctors Without Borders (MFS) has slammed Western industrialized countries for failing to make a proper response to the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa.

The organization’s operations director, Brice de la Vigne, accused industrialized Western countries of being interested in protecting themselves instead of helping contain the virus.

“Globally, the response of the international community is almost zero,” de la Vigne said. “Leaders in the west are talking about their own safety and doing things like closing airlines – and not helping anyone else.”

He also said politicians of industrialized nations urgently needed to take action before Ebola spread further.

“The solution is not that complicated but we need to have political will to do so. Time is running against us. But you need very senior people with high profiles, the kind of people who can co-ordinate a response to a million people affected by an earthquake,” he added, comparing the Ebola crisis in West Africa to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, which killed some 300,000 people.

The MFS official recently visited Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 1,229 people in African countries, including in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria, have lost their lives as a result of the disease.

The Ebola virus, which is a form of hemorrhagic fever, spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces, or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses. Its symptoms include diarrhea, vomiting, and internal and external bleeding. There is currently no licensed cure for the virus.