The Lancet: Offline: The mistakes we made over Ebola
Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet

“…I sat in international conferences, convened after the west Africa outbreaks, where country leaders pleaded for the equivalent of a Marshall Plan, a west African recovery program, to counter the de-development that Ebola had wreaked on their economies. Big promises were made. But the fact is that once Ebola withered away, the international community lost interest in Africa. The U.S. and Europe were concerned about Ebola only in so far as it represented a threat to their own borders. Once that threat had dissipated, Africa was once again left to clear up the debris of a humanitarian catastrophe. Watching this betrayal unfold was not surprising. It was simply one more deception western nations have perpetrated on African peoples. Yes, a vast amount of money was invested in controlling Ebola. Yes, important lessons were learned. Yes, the global health community did sharpen its understanding of public health emergencies. But Ebola showed how western countries bequeathed one more chapter of duplicity and treachery on the history of Africa” (10/26).