The tragic stories coming out of West Africa about Ebola shock our sensibilities.
We have more advanced tools and greater capacity for communication and collaboration than ever before to ensure these types of outbreaks don’t grow into global health crises — yet inadequate and ill-resourced national health systems lacked the capacity to mobilize these interventions to keep up with the outbreak.
Before becoming ground zero for the Ebola virus, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone were all making progress to rebuild after long and bloody civil wars. Sierra Leone saw its economy grow by 20.1 percent from 2012 to 2013 — but now development is at a standstill. Liberia is seeing violence rise again as a result of the destabilizing virus, illustrating a cycle that affects not just just health, but also a nation’s ability to fully rebound from one shock before another hits.
About the author
Michael Myers
Michael Myers leads The Rockefeller Foundation’s global health work including its transforming health systems initiative and the campaign for Universal Health Coverage. He also coordinates strategies for the foundation’s work in the United States with a focus on building inclusive economies in cities.
