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Infectious Diseases
and STD-AIDS
Infectious Diseases and STD-AIDS 2018
Journal of Transmitted Diseases and Immunity
ISSN 2471-8084
A p r i l 2 6 , 2 7 2 0 1 8
R o m e , I t a l y
Page 73
J Transm Dis Immun 2018 Volume 2
DOI: 10.21767/2573-0320-C1-003
T
he most recent Ebola outbreak demonstrated a clear lack of preparedness from the global health and humanitarian system
for an outbreak of infectious disease and a number of weaknesses in the international health and emergency response
infrastructure. The first case of the outbreak occurred in December 2013 in Meliandou in southeastern Guinea but was only
confirmed as Ebola in March of 2014. It is clear that a number of factors affected the nature of response and that any possible
combination of these factors could occur. During the post Ebola recovery period and in the interest of our study, we approached key
stakeholders from relevant response organizations who were asked to describe how their organizations would have responded
to a case study scenario in which a non-state actor claims responsibility for new cases of Ebola in an adjacent geographical area
with a previously unexposed population just like it was the case in Guinee, Liberia and Sierra Leone just before the outbreak.
The study subsequently sought the views of major bilateral donors to the Ebola response to better understand the challenges
and approaches nations would take in the event of a deliberate use and its impact on a humanitarian disaster response. Our
engagement aimed to bring together a selected group of multi-sector participants to glean what has been learned so far and
develop firm proposals for action. Whatever the next event or outbreak is, and regardless of its source, the Ebola outbreak
revealed weaknesses in the global health and humanitarian responses that must be fixed. Coordination between agencies should
be increased, and efforts should not be duplicated. A one size fits all approach will not work for future outbreaks, nor did it work
for Ebola, and flexibility should be engineered into the system and coordination to allow for the international community to
provide what is needed, when it is needed, rather than everything at once.
dremaleu@gmail.comThe 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak: lessons learned
from the response
Serge Blaise Emaleu
Stanford University School of Medicine, USA