As the World Health Organization dawdled in its response - nearly 1000 people would die before they called an emergency meeting to discuss allocating resources - NGOs like Partners In Health and Doctors without Borders (MSF) jumped in at the request of local authorities.Įbola’s rapid transmission and lethality were uniquely terrifying. In this trio of West African nations, they were mostly absent. These body fluids transmit the disease, so families caring for sick relatives, or a taxi driver ferrying someone to a clinic, could easily become infected.įarmer repeats a mantra that what is needed to provide health care is staff, stuff, space and systems.
Despite its bloody reputation, Ebola generally causes high fevers and excessive vomiting and diarrhea. Sick and dying Ebola patients arrived in droves. Farmer recounts the headline-making worldwide panic and cancelled flights, all serving to isolate West Africa.įarmer describes the affected nations as being medical deserts with ad-hoc, unequipped treatment centers and under-protected staff. The book begins as a true-life medical thriller, with Farmer being drawn into the Ebola outbreak by medical colleagues in the region. Or that it would affect America so drastically that Anthony Fauci, who in his post at the CDC helped treat Americans with Ebola, would now be a household name. Certainly, Farmer had no idea when he began to tell the story of his experiences a 2014 pandemic half a world away that another would be sweeping the globe in 2020.
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