Ebola: a human catastrophe

In Freetown, hundreds of people marched on a local clinic following allegations that the ebola virus had been simply invented to hide cannibalistic rituals. Tightly wrapped bodies buried in mass graves have added to local fears. In some parts of West Africa health workers in groups like the Red Cross have been forced to suspend their activities and leave due to local hostility. Throughout much of West Africa many health workers have been shunned and accused of spreading the disease.

Like all epidemics the media is having a field day and in many ways has added to the widespread fear and panic. Throughout Africa and much of the world we have been daily confronted by headlines such as "Red Alert", the "Ebola Crisis", "Ebola Out of Control", "Ebola Evolving into a Natural Disaster", "God is Angry with Liberia", as well as by confronting pictures of people in makeshift hospital wards, of bodies being left by the roadside, of bodies being carried by masked and gowned health teams and of people praying along the roadside.

Cartoons are also to the fore such as the one in the Sydney Daily Telegraph on the 31^st of July which depicted Africa as a giant death's skull.

Throughout West Africa the spread of ebola has been driven by cultural beliefs and public health failures.

Part of the problem has been our inability to fully understand how ordinary people regard risk in their lives and how such attitudes are governed by cultural, traditional and personal beliefs.

We should learn from this.