After Thomas
Duncan- a Liberian national who infected 2 nurses in Dallas with Ebola virus- died
last week, news coverage on Ebola soared in the United States. Panic hit the
television and radio waves as Americans began to worry that they too can catch
the Ebola virus. Politicians, eager to politicize this issue for leverage on
the midterm elections, began to call for travel bans on flights from West Africa. Rep.
Phil Gingrey from Georgia even suggested that we close the U.S-Mexico border
because he believes that illegal immigrants may be “carrying deadly diseases such as swine flu, dengue fever, Ebola virus, and tuberculosis”.
Putting
aside the ridiculousness of the latter claim, there is a serious concern at
play here: that one of our loved ones in the United States or even one of us
will become infected with Ebola and die. This is no longer a problem that is
happening thousands of miles away in another part of the world- now Ebola has
come to our home and our communities…..now we are exposed.
And NOW it
has become a problem. Now that it has affected one of us, we are starting to
worry about it.
Never mind
that almost 4,500 West Africans have died because of this outbreak. Never mind that Medecins Sans Frontier (MSF), one of the
first responders on the ground, have been calling for an emergency response since March of this year. Only when Ebola reaches our shores
is when it becomes a problem that needs to be dealt with.
As much as
we don’t like to internalize the idea, this mentality highlights the importance
that race and poverty play in events like these. If poor Africans are dying from
a dangerous illness far away- hardly anyone bats an eyebrow. But, when
Americans become infected with this illness, then we can’t seem to
stop talking about it.
An Onion
article published a couple months ago perfectly exemplifies the attitude that
most Western governments have in writing that finding “a vaccine for the deadly disease is still at least 50 white people from being developed” because
“waiting more than 50 white people for an effective preventative measure {is} something the world would simply not allow”.
And the parallels
that this mentality has in the real world are quite striking: although the
Ebola virus started spreading in early March, the international community lagged
in responding in a timely manner. MSF released a statement last month blaming
world leaders for “failing to come to grips with this transnational threat. The WHO announcement on August 8 that this epidemic constituted a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ has not led to decisive action, and states have essentially joined a global coalition of inaction”.
Although the
United States government has spent 100 million to respond to the Ebola
outbreak, the World Health Organization has stated that funding alone will not
stop the epidemic, because it is also “imperative that states immediately deploy civilian and military assets with expertise in biohazard containment."
Even in
mainstream media could one see this lack of importance: it was not even until
the U.S Peace Corps evacuated in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone (and the
first Westerners were infected) that the media even started reporting
more consistently on the problem.
Equally underlining
this race and poverty phenomenon is the disparaging reporting done by journalists. The descriptions made by Newsweek and CNN
that fear and superstition is the norm in Guinea and that bushmeat is common at circumcision ceremonies in West Africa only reinforces the stereotype that Africans
are barbaric and backward creatures.
What reason do these authors have in writing these things other than making us
believe that Africans are running around villages wearing monkey skulls?
Maybe some tribes still do this, but not all. I lived in a small Guinean village for two years and my host-father drove a
Land Rover and wore Calvin Klein shirts to work. Africa is a diverse and large
continent where the cultures and way of life is far ranging. This type of
journalism is not only sensational but also emphasizes the fact that this
international Ebola outbreak is mostly focused on through the narrow prism of
race and poverty.
What should we worry about?
First, let’s
stop worrying about Ebola spreading in the United States because due to our
excellent health care facilities, sanitation levels and public health
resources, the probability of Ebola spreading is quite low. If you’re not
convinced of that, read these 2 articles, here and here.
Over at vox, Julia Belluz lays bare what all Westerners should actually be worried
about:
In order for Ebola to move around the
world, the outbreak needs to continue to grow in West Africa…the more people
infected with Ebola at the source, the more likely they are to infect other
people, and the more likely those people are to travel and spread the disease.
It doesn't matter that Ebola is
currently a small threat in America, and that the real focus should be stopping
the outbreak in West Africa. If this political theater devolves into, say, a
travel ban in West Africa that further isolates the region, the nightmare
epidemic will inch closer to reality: the economies of the affected countries
will continue to crumble, getting aid to the region will be difficult or
impossible, and Ebola will rage on over there, which again, means it's a threat
everywhere.
The Ebola
outbreak is not just a problem when it reaches the United States; it has been a
problem ever since it began spreading in early March in Guinea. Actually implementing travel bans (like our
leaders propose) and closing our borders will only worsen the problem and the
risk of spread all around the world.
If you want
to help, stop worrying about getting Ebola at home and focus your attention in
lobbying your government to send assistance to the most afflicted countries in
West Africa and donate to the organizations that have braved transmission and
worked directly with Ebola patients.
And lastly,
remember that this Ebola epidemic will not be the last problem that will arise
in the developing world. We can continue to ignore problems in poor and
marginalized communities around the world. But, being that the international
community is more interrelated than ever, there will always be repercussions
for people in the West if we keep ignoring the places where the true problems lie.
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