Hello everyone,
I'm Maggie and this is my first post for African Studies.
The link to the article is at the bottom. It goes to BBC.com. The article is entitled "Ebola: Why is it this disease we fear?" and was written by Dr. Berkley. In the article he offers explanations on the reasons why the Ebola outbreak is garnering so much attention from worldwide media.
First off, he makes it clear that there are plenty of other diseases that are even worse to contract. Either they are easier to transmit, they have more horrific symptoms or they kill a lot more people annually.
However, what makes Ebola special, i.e. what grabs the Western imagination: "...has something to do with the fact that there is no cure and that
50%-90% of people infected will inevitably die."
Not having a cure, he argues, is what makes this disease so alarming. He says the rest of us live relatively free of disease, beyond the flu virus, due to all our vaccinations. Whereas, in Africa, they have many other diseases to worry about.
I don't think he's trying to trivialize the disease, but I think he is pointing out that this may be more of a fact of life for those currently having to live through the epidemic. While over a thousand people have already lost their lives to this disease, that pales in comparison to something like malaria, which claims over half a million lives each year. And malaria is curable, according to the World Heath Organization website. (link: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/)
So maybe, in the bigger scheme of diseases more likely to kill those living on the African continent, Ebola isn't the most alarming for them. I'm not saying it isn't a concern, especially for those living near the outbreaks in West Africa. I just don't think it is as big as outside media paints it. But that isn't a bad thing. For Dr. Berkley, the media coverage is good. It means people care. It means they're working towards a cure, a vaccine. I just find it interesting, that in the case of disease, having plenty of news is beneficial.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-28689949
