Roll Call: Spike in West Africa Ebola Cases Shows Need to Address Underlying Health Care Needs
Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.)

“…The lesson from [the West Africa Ebola epidemic] is clear: For our own safety and for the long-term stability of the African economy we need to assist with investments in [the] health care infrastructure of West Africa — from hospitals and clinics to medication and vaccines and training doctors and nurses. … While Liberia was declared Ebola-free by the World Health Organization in early May, it cannot be deemed fully free from the threat of Ebola while the outbreak still maintains a hold in neighboring Guinea and Sierra Leone. This fact not only underscores the importance of a fully funded, regionally coordinated and sustained crisis and recovery effort, it also highlights the need to address the underlying causes of this outbreak’s devastation, specifically the inadequate and overstretched health care infrastructures of Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone” (6/16).