General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInfected Workers-Slow Deployment-No Vaccine: Ebola Response Shows Pitfalls of PRIVATIZED Health Care
Although the rate of new Ebola infections has slowed in some areas, the World Health Organization says it would be premature to read that as a success. New WHO projections suggest there could be between 5,000 and 10,000 new cases a week by December. The head of the United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response told the U.N. Security Council that the steps implemented by the international community are not enough to halt the advance of the fatal disease. "This is an international humanitarian and health crisis," says Lawrence Gostin, university professor and faculty director at the ONeill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University. Gostin says privatized healthcare has undermined the U.S. response to Ebola, with a lack of available vaccines and access to proper care. "Much of our innovation is driven by the private sector, and from their point of view, Ebola was not a predictable disease and those who got Ebola were too poor to pay for it." We are also joined by Karen Higgins, co-president of National Nurses United.
from the transcript:
AMY GOODMAN: now the NIH says they are developing a vaccine. It sounds like this has been possible for a long time, but private corporationsand which this is usually their purviewthey knew there wasnt a lot to be made in this profit-wise. So, this is why there were so few shots available, whether its a vaccine or other drugs. Can you talk about the importance of public health, and are vaccines possible in dealing with Ebola?
LAWRENCE GOSTIN: Yeah, I mean, the problem is, is that most of our innovation is driven by the private sector. And from their point of view, Ebola was not a predictable disease, and those who got Ebola were too poor to pay for it, and so theres been a lack of investment. Not only were there not enough doses of ZMapp and things, but they werent even tested. There are only now vaccines and others going through clinical testing. And so, we really just dont have those things on the ground.
Just want to make a very quick comment, if I can, aboutwe call ourselves the most advanced health system in the world, but what do we mean by that? I think what we mean by that is, is that we have the best of the best of the world. But we also have a highly variable systemso many different hospitals, so many different emergency rooms. We have over 3,500 local health authorities. Everybody isweve got such different standards about what we can do. And what we need to do, as Karen says, is up our game. We need to be more uniform, and we need to have systems in place and the kind of equipment and training at every institution, so that this doesnt happen again. Its really unacceptable.
MORE:
http://www.democracynow.org/2014/10/15/infected_workers_slow_deployment_no_vaccines
GeorgeGist
(25,294 posts)Bortman33
(102 posts)am really happy to see you bring this to the forefront.
The hospital that sent Mr. Duncan home with a 103+ temperature is a private institution that is only concerned with the bottom line. Why to hell would you send anyone home with a 103+ fever unless they didn't have health insurance or money.
Texas, with their 110+ privatization fever and their total disregard for those who can't afford their own health care, has made the case for single payer even better then Bernie does.
Bluenorthwest
(45,319 posts)people die in Africa from HIV/AIDS. That's each week. Die. So 1.2 million or more each year for as long as I can remember. There is no vaccine.
JEB
(4,748 posts)from collapse and will take a lot of people with it. And not just the poor and under-insured this time.