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The International Response To The Outbreak Of The Ebola Crisis In West Africa
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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
West
African countries are often characterised as less developed countries,
this is due to the high rate of poverty, high dependency rate, low
per-capita income and high level of corruption among other factors.
Inadequacy of medical facilities and safety gargets has been a major
challenge for African countries in the fight of the Ebola virus, also
availability of skilled doctors to threat Ebola patients has also posed a
great problem for West African countries, due to this, and the death
toll is on high. Most West African countries are left with no choice but
to rely heavy on the aid of the so called external actors for
assistance in the fight against Ebola, but the responses given to west
African countries might be said to be a bit slower and not as effective
as expected, reason being that Africa is seen as another world on its
own, and often then to leave Africa at their faith when crisis such as
these happen. WHO, which should have led the international response, has
experienced severe budget deficits and drastically cut its workforce
and programs, including its capacity for rapid response to the Ebola
crisis. More than 5 months after the virus began its spread, greater
emphasis was finally placed on the development of vaccines and drug
therapies, On August 11th, WHO approved the compassionate use of
experimental drugs, the drug was initially administered to two US aid
workers, and reportedly to a Spanish priest. It was later given to a
British nurse as well, but these drugs didn’t get into West Africa until
around late October 2014 reportedly on a ―first come, first served‖
basis, but the initial preference given to white foreign workers fueled a
sense of deep injustice. While administering an unproven drug to
African patients conjures up images of unconscionable human
experimentation, the failure to meaningfully consult local communities
and leaders is a moral failure.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
broad objective of this study is to examine the response of the
international response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa and also:
i
to examine the nature of the Ebola crisis in West Africa ii to identify
and discuss the role and challenges of the external actors towards the
Ebola crisis in West Africa
iii to identify the effectiveness of the international response towards the Ebola crisis in West Africa
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
i What is Ebola crisis?
ii What are the roles and challenges of the external actors towards the Ebola crisis in West Africa?
iii To what extent have the roles of external actors towards the Ebola Crisis been
effective in West Africa?
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Bearing
in mind the current situation of the spread of Ebola disease in the
world, the high rate of death and dented diplomatic relations among
states West Africa in particular, there is the need to examine the
response of the international actors on the Ebola crisis in West Africa.
This research also serves as a wakeup call to reduce the reliance on
external actors for help in times of crisis, other solutions such as
locally made medicine and improvement in our health facilities should
also be considered.
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