Ebola crisis points to wider global threat on a p
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Posted On: 03/28/2015 10:08:24 AM
Ebola crisis points to wider global threat on a par with al-Qaida, warns UK medic
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development...t-uk-medic
Leading British doctor likens Ebola epidemic to US embassy bombings of 1998, which were a harbinger of worse things to come.
Ebola should be seen as an early wake-up call to world leaders of the potential for an international health disaster in the same way that the 1998 US embassy bombings highlighted the possibility of further attacks by al-Qaida, a leading British medic in Sierra Leone has warned.
Dr Oliver Johnson has called for “a big political shakeup” at the World Health Organisation and says Britain’s Department for International Development must decide whether to “nationalise” aid and deploy the army the next time a humanitarian emergency hits.
“I hope this Ebola outbreak is as bad as it gets, I hope this is a one-off,” he said. “But it could be that it’s much more like the US embassy bombings [in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998].
“They were a warning to us. At the time, we thought: ‘This is as bad as it can get – this organisation, al-Qaida, can you believe they’ve just demolished a US embassy?’
“Actually, it was a warning sign for 9/11 … there was an emerging threat, and we – and the US – were not in a position to respond effectively to that.”
Johnson has been a leading figure in health policy in Freetown for the past two years, heading a partnership between the UK’s King’s Health Partners and key health institutions in Sierra Leone, including the Connaught hospital. He was previously policy director for the Parliamentary Group on Global Health.
But Johnson said the issues raised by Ebola go beyond Africa, highlighting the world’s vulnerability and “how incredibly limited our capacity is to identify and respond to emergencies”.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development...t-uk-medic
Leading British doctor likens Ebola epidemic to US embassy bombings of 1998, which were a harbinger of worse things to come.
Ebola should be seen as an early wake-up call to world leaders of the potential for an international health disaster in the same way that the 1998 US embassy bombings highlighted the possibility of further attacks by al-Qaida, a leading British medic in Sierra Leone has warned.
Dr Oliver Johnson has called for “a big political shakeup” at the World Health Organisation and says Britain’s Department for International Development must decide whether to “nationalise” aid and deploy the army the next time a humanitarian emergency hits.
“I hope this Ebola outbreak is as bad as it gets, I hope this is a one-off,” he said. “But it could be that it’s much more like the US embassy bombings [in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998].
“They were a warning to us. At the time, we thought: ‘This is as bad as it can get – this organisation, al-Qaida, can you believe they’ve just demolished a US embassy?’
“Actually, it was a warning sign for 9/11 … there was an emerging threat, and we – and the US – were not in a position to respond effectively to that.”
Johnson has been a leading figure in health policy in Freetown for the past two years, heading a partnership between the UK’s King’s Health Partners and key health institutions in Sierra Leone, including the Connaught hospital. He was previously policy director for the Parliamentary Group on Global Health.
But Johnson said the issues raised by Ebola go beyond Africa, highlighting the world’s vulnerability and “how incredibly limited our capacity is to identify and respond to emergencies”.
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