Ebola Outbreak: Need for Stronger Containment Plan

At this rate, the fear of Ebola becoming an “international threat” may be slowly growing more realistic. In West Africa, the Ebola hemorrhagic fever is furiously spreading.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), more than 4,000 have died. This is nearly double the amount reported only a month ago. The number of infections has also reached approximately 8,400, with confirmed cases in the U.S. and Spain in addition to five West African countries.

At the end of August, WHO announced an Ebola response road map and, although international support has been organized, rather than containing the virus, the spread of infection is quickening. In order to prevent worldwide transmission, the international community needs to quickly come together and strengthen countermeasures.

The road map requests even more support from the international community and aims at completely stopping Ebola transmission within six to nine months.

In reality, however, things do not always go according to plan. Although approximately 50.8 billion yen (approx. $473 million) was estimated as necessary for resolving this issue, the amount will soon increase to the enormous sum of 100 billion yen (approx. $931 million). This reveals a critical situation where the amount of aid is surpassed by the spread of infection.

Harsh predictions continue to come to light.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that if the pace of infection does not decrease, the number of those infected in the countries of Liberia and Sierra Leone alone will, at worst, reach 1.4 million people by January of next year. Economic loss would also be great, and it is feared that costs will reach 3.5 trillion yen (approx. $32.7 billion) in two years.

Even if infected areas receive aid, there is a serious shortage of beds and medical resources, which is fostering unease in concerned countries.

This brings to mind the example of AIDS, which spread worldwide as we failed to grasp the situation and come up with countermeasures. For Ebola, the countermeasures taken over the next several months will be the key to determining whether we will actually be able to contain the virus.

Currently, research for treatments using vaccines or serums are being conducted at a rapid pace. The question is how those will be used to prevent further spread of the disease. With AIDS, treatment was impractical due to how expensive it was in poor countries. The same mistakes must not be made with Ebola.

While containment plans are strengthened for the present, we also must confront the risk of the long-term prevalence of the disease. Behind the spread of infection is the problem of poverty. The improvement of standards of living and medical treatment should continue to receive support.

In both the short and long term, the battle with this virus is challenging the current state of the international community’s wisdom and cooperation.