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Ebola Response Is Hampered By Infighting
The global response to the Ebola virus in Liberia is being hampered by poor coordination and serious disagreements between Liberian officials and the donors and health agencies fighting the epidemic, according to minutes of top-level meetings and interviews with participants.
Even now, three months after donors began pouring resources into Liberia, many confirmed cases still go unreported, countries refuse to change plans to erect field hospitals in the wrong places, families cannot find out whether their relatives in treatment are alive or dead, health workers sent to take temperatures sometimes lack thermometers, and bodies have been cremated because a cemetery was not yet open.
The detailed accounts of high-level meetings obtained by The New York Times, the most recent from Monday, lift the veil on the messy and contentious process of running the sprawling response to Liberia's epidemic, one that now involves more than 100 government agencies, charities, and donors from around the world.
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At the meeting Monday, De Cock cited logistics problems, including regular hospitals that cannot separate out Ebola patients, counties with no ambulances, and even temperature takers with no thermometers.
More at link
The global response to the Ebola virus in Liberia is being hampered by poor coordination and serious disagreements between Liberian officials and the donors and health agencies fighting the epidemic, according to minutes of top-level meetings and interviews with participants.
Even now, three months after donors began pouring resources into Liberia, many confirmed cases still go unreported, countries refuse to change plans to erect field hospitals in the wrong places, families cannot find out whether their relatives in treatment are alive or dead, health workers sent to take temperatures sometimes lack thermometers, and bodies have been cremated because a cemetery was not yet open.
The detailed accounts of high-level meetings obtained by The New York Times, the most recent from Monday, lift the veil on the messy and contentious process of running the sprawling response to Liberia's epidemic, one that now involves more than 100 government agencies, charities, and donors from around the world.
snip
At the meeting Monday, De Cock cited logistics problems, including regular hospitals that cannot separate out Ebola patients, counties with no ambulances, and even temperature takers with no thermometers.
More at link