Ebola’s rapid death march: It’s time we learnt
20 October 2014, South Africa - In its youth, Ebola had to play a slow game of chess. It kept on being blocked by rapid responses by heroic health teams in remote jungle areas of central Africa. Now that it has found its way at last into teeming slums and broken health systems, it can run like Usain Bolt. It was always bound to get there.
Where have all the people gone, long time passing?
Where have all the people gone, long time ago?
Where have all the people gone?
Gone to graveyards, everyone.
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Oh, when will they ever learn?
Pete Seeger
In our brave new world, preventable disease kills 20 million people a year - many more people than wars - so the late, great Pete Seeger will forgive me my slight adaptation of his iconic anti-war song ‘Where have all the Flowers Gone’.
Ebola is the latest proof of this. It comes just after 30 years since the Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) made its appearance on the scene, causing the deaths of over 36 million people since then. (Daily Maverick)