What societies can do to combat deadly viruses

Authorities must look beyond the immediate crisis response

To tackle Zika and other viral outbreaks, we need to focus not only on the pathology of the disease, but also on the global political and economic architecture

In Sierra Leone, for example, in the four months following the outbreak of Ebola, 848 people were infected by the virus and 365 died. And in an average four months, the country sees about 650 deaths from meningitis, 670 from tuberculosis, 790 from HIV/ AIDS, 845 from diarrhoea and more than 3,000 from malaria.

Such deaths have been occurring for decades, but with no previous focus on these countries.

Furthermore, in these three countries there is a persistent crisis of human resources, with a serious deficit of health workers, especially in rural areas. This is a result of long-term underproduction and continuing migration. More Liberian and Sierra Leonean medical doctors work in the US and UK than in their home countries.

How to solve the problem

As a start, it is important to focus on crisis response. The World Health Organisation had a feeble initial response to Ebola, in part, because of cuts of more than 50 per cent in its outbreak and response budget – the very budget line needed to respond to Ebola. This dropped from US$469 million in 2012/2013 to US$228 million in 2014/2015, mainly because member states, particularly rich ones, failed to pay their financial contributions.

But managing viral epidemics requires that authorities look beyond the immediate crisis response. A major and sustained investment in human resources is required. Initially, this will require greatly increased donor assistance.

In the medium term, there is an urgent need to strengthen health systems in the region. Although talk of “health systems strengthening” has become commonplace there is little evidence of this in several African countries.

But the most sustainable solution requires fundamental changes to economic and power relations between these countries and the capitalist economies and enterprises that continue to bleed them dry, often with the collusion of local officials and elites.

Amit Sengupta, associate co-ordinator of the People’s Health Movement, was involved in the formulation of this article.