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MSF: The international community ignored Ebola

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ebola
Ebola virus

 

International medical charity,  Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has heavily criticized the international community, saying it was very slow at responding to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The charity says many people lost their lives due to the inaction of the internatiuonal community, a tragedy that could have been avoided.

In its report that was released on Monday, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the outbreak,  the international community dismissed reports that the disease would spiral out of control.

MSF says the reports were instead said to be alarmist and that early calls for help were ignored by local governments and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The organization says Ebola spiraled out of control because many institutions failed to take action. And that they did that, with tragic and avoidable consequences.

The Ebola epidemic has killed more than 10,200 people over the past year, most of those deaths were in the three worst affected West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

MSF first declared there was an Ebola outbreak at the end of March last year but this was rejected by the WHO. Three months later the body officially confirmed the outbreak.

According to the report, the governments of Guinea and Sierra Leone also downplayed the epidemic, according to the report, and Sierra Leone withheld crucial data that prevented MSF from identifying affected villages.

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