20 years after I first posted something by Laurie Garrett – who has written two of the the most thought-provoking, informative and frightening books I have ever read (The Coming Plague, and Betrayal of Trust) – I see she has just published possibly the single best account of the recent Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa.
Seriously. Exhaustive, deep, analytical – and like her books, throwing some harsh light on world health care systems (or the lack thereof, in the case of the WHO), while at the same time making useful suggestions.
Like this one:
“And so it comes back to money. The world will get what it pays for—and right now, that is not very much.”
Absolutely: consider that the late and haphazard and meagre response by most governments let the epidemic peak and then start to subside – without actually, in the case of the US, managing to get more than one treatment centre functional in Liberia, before they ran out of patients. That the health systems of all three countries are in such bad shape that they can’t deal with childbirth and malaria right now.
Laurie, it’s a great piece, really it is. It’s also depressing as hell. But that’s life!
Tags: Betrayal of Trust, Ebola virus disease outbreak, health care systems, Laurie Garrett
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