The latest villain of
news media has begun to penetrate the deepest fears of Americans. Is it Ronan?
Kim Jong-un? No, it’s the ebola virus. The highly contagious disease that
infected almost 6,000 and killed over 2,000 in Western Africa has left America
terrified for its health. But perhaps these fears are not justified; could it
be that our tendency to misread international events has made us into parochial
frogs in a well?
According
to statisticians, the answer, surprisingly, is “no.” The outbreak that first
struck Guinea in December of last year has exploded into the most serious case
of the disease to date; the current number of cases triples that of the first
outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976, or the brief scare in
Uganda at the turn of the century. The Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention reported two weeks ago that the total civilian death rate by January
2015 will reach 11,000 at the very least, and 1.4 million in the worst case
scenario.
However,
as researchers are not the ones directly exposed to the virus, it is critical
to consider the perspective of Africans. For those living in the
disease-ravaged African coast, ebola has disrupted every aspect of daily life.
Not only has the under-staffed and under-funded health care system refused to
treat all but ebola cases, but public services, including schools in Guinea,
Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Senegal have closed out of fear of spreading the
contagion. Local residents commented to BBC on their frustration at the
situation: “I’m against the government decision to [close all schools]… would
you ask students to stop going to churches and mosques as well?” Though the
government cannot prevent locals from gathering, it has every power to deny
them access to basic medical aid. Stories of first-time mothers dying from
pregnancy complications, or seniors battling desperately with the common flu
have horrified Americans. In each of these situations, the victim died alone,
as their suffering was deemed “not as important” as that from the ebola virus.
Even from the view of
the medics themselves, the epidemic is a worst nightmare come true. Many of the
workers are volunteers who raced to answer the world-wide plea for medical personnel.
What the job description did not address though, was the fact that there is no
cure or vaccine, or that most hospitals are ill-equipped to treat ebola.
Volunteers are in contact with victims for far more than the recommended number
of hours, and easily contract this fluid-borne illness. However, most infected volunteers
do not have to worry about being refused medical aid. Dr. Rick Sacra contracted
the disease in Liberia last month, but six days later, he was receiving expert
care in the United States. For Americans at least, “the care [is] so excellent,
so speedy,” and a world apart from the situation that faces African victims.
Then
do we have any reason to fear an ebola outbreak in the US? Unless otherwise
noted, our insurance money can more than easily contain any outbreak, in the
case that one does occur in the United States. The real concern, though, is our
blatant ignorance of the African health care. Why did it take a reoccurrence of
the ebola epidemic for us to take our eyes off our own health care system?
Before more deaths can take place, it is high time that we paid more attention
to lacking medical facilities around the world, and fulfilled our obligation to
improve international health. Perhaps then we will be less inclined to believe
exaggerated news reports, and disperse the self-absorbed mist that clouds our
perception of the world. Until then, Americans can be said only to be frogs in
a well, unaware of the reality of the ebola virus in Africa, or most any other
conflict beyond our country borders.
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