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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTop Doc Says Ebola Shows Skewed Priorities
http://www.progressive.org/news/2014/10/187889/top-doc-says-ebola-shows-skewed-prioritiesTsou says that the Ebola epidemic has uncovered big flaws in the global health system, too. We have known about Ebola since 1976 and yet we still have no vaccine or treatment, he points out. The fact that we are now scrambling to find some type of vaccine and treatment only speaks to the paucity of research that we have invested in the developing world. In the cruel economics of the pharmaceutical industry, unless the drugs promise a significant return on investment, they are unwilling to invest in it essentially condemning most of the developing world.
The Ebola crisis has also made apparent the impact of drastic health budget cuts. Bloomberg News reports that theres been a nearly one-fifth reduction in public health employees at the state and local levels in just the last six years, with 60,000 fewer people employed than in 2008. This manifests itself in many ways.
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The World Health Organization is a shadow of what it should be and is unable to mount a boots on the ground surveillance, mitigation and quarantine program, he says. The United Nations has called for the world to donate $1 billion to confront the Ebola crisis, but we only have $100,000 in the bank so far.
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)We have a shitty health care system. It is designed to make money not to promote a healthy society.
I'm afraid that until we get the profit out of health care we will never be equipped to handle this sort of occurrence. It simply cost too much to train people and equip facilities with rarely used items.
ErikJ
(6,335 posts)The main reason for universal health care is to contain epidemics which even benefits the very rich.
Red states like Texas have left up to 1/4 of their residents uninsured. That means if a guy feels sick and thinks he should have them checked out but cant afford it, he may end up spreading ebola to 10 other people before he comes in.
KT2000
(20,544 posts)from public health specialists. They are the ones with the big picture. Doctors and bean counters do NOT have any concept of the big picture.
greatlaurel
(2,004 posts)There is lots of potential for zoonotic diseases to emerge in North America, too. As more and more previously uninhabited or sparsely inhabited areas are taken over for human habitation, there are more interactions with native animals which increases the risk of disease transmission. Hantavirus is pretty worrisome.
Then we have some really nasty diseases that cross into farm animals, but not humans such as EHD http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12150-26647--,00.html
We had an outbreak of EHD near our where we live and it killed between 40 and 50 deer. The game warden said the meat was safe to eat. I would have to be pretty hungry to try that. The vultures in the area ate well for quite awhile. It is a really gruesome disease, but all the hemorrhagic diseases are pretty awful.