If there is just one key take-away from the largest Ebola outbreak in history — that, it should be noted, is still ongoing — it is this: the stark disparity in healthcare infrastructure and the ability to improve.
Julie Beck with The Atlantic spoke with several people who have been affected by the Ebola outbreak, including journalists, healthcare officials and clinicians, who shared what they've taken away from the outbreak. One main theme emerged.
Anthony Fauci, MD, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said: "The Ebola outbreak has cast a bright light on how disparities in healthcare infrastructure can profoundly affect the vulnerability of certain populations to the spread of certain infectious diseases…If the West African countries stricken by the current Ebola outbreak had a reasonable healthcare infrastructure, the outbreak would not have gotten out of control. The developed world should act in partnership with poorer countries to eliminate this disparity."
Nicole Cooper, a Liberian-American and resident training at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, agreed. "The larger lesson that I feel we should take away from this is the importance of functional systems," she told Ms. Beck. "As members of any society, it's important to look outside of our individual selves and be invested in and actively working towards improving…infrastructural pillars in order to secure ourselves against devastating challenges like Ebola."
Yet another person, Pet Muller, a photojournalist who covered Ebola in Sierra Leone, pointed out the healthcare discrepancies between West African nations and more developed countries. "Above all else, the Ebola outbreak has impressed on me the profound need for healthcare enhancements in many developing African nations," he said, according to The Atlantic.
Crystal Johnson, a nurse at Atlanta-based Emory University Hospital who treated Ebola patients there, noted that even the U.S. healthcare system is still not perfect. "We still need to make improvements on our preparedness for crises such as this Ebola outbreak," she said. "We need to find ways to aid those countries that are less fortunate by improving their healthcare system; and we need to continue to collaborate with each other…to develop the best approach to managing and preventing crises such as this one."