As Ebola Outbreak Recedes, Global Health Care Leaders Focus On Prevention, Coordinated Action

THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES   by Amy Nordrum                                                                      Jan. 23, 2015

The recent Ebola outbreak, for which the number of new cases reported each week in the three most severely affected countries is finally beginning to fall, underscores the need to prepare for the next disease outbreak. Global health leaders are asking what it will take to prevent the next disease outbreak from spiraling out of control as the global population approaches 7.5 billion people and grows more connected.

     A research assistant works on a vaccine for Ebola at the Jenner Institute in Oxford, England. Eddie Keogh/Reuters

Governments and aid organizations will need to build stronger health care systems in some of the world's poorest countries and further invest, preemptively, in developing drugs and vaccines to treat rare diseases that could threaten global health. Those are the recommendations of leaders from the public and private sector who convened at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Thursday to talk about the lessons from the latest Ebola outbreak, which has killed thousands in West Africa.

Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, emphasized that early detection of outbreaks is crucial for marshaling an effective global response. "Ebola was spreading undetected for three months in Guinea,” she said. “The first case happened in December 2013 and it was not detected until March 2014.”

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