Ebola — an opportunity to improve primary health care

Building a strong primary health care leads to earlier detection and eventual containment of outbreaks like Ebola, according to Ethiopian Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Ebola is raging now, but let’s still consider Ebola as an opportunity to build the primary health care of the affected countries and even beyond,” Tedros told Devex President and Editor-in-Chief Raj Kumar in October during the Devex Partnerships & Careers Forum in Addis Ababa.

Information on prevention and health promotion can better flow through a well-coordinated health care system, the former Ethiopian health minister said, citing plans to expand his country’s network of community health workers.

In the above clip, Tedros discusses what has “disappointed” him so far in the global response to Ebola, the importance of solidarity in overcoming the outbreak, and how the deadly virus has transformed to a crisis beyond health.

Want to learn more? Check out the Healthy Means campaign site and tweet us using #HealthyMeans.

Healthy Means is an online conversation hosted by Devex in partnership with Concern Worldwide, Gavi, GlaxoSmithKline, International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Johnson & Johnson and the United Nations Population Fund to showcase new ideas and ways we can work together to expand health care and live better lives.