Showing posts with label Ebola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ebola. Show all posts

Sunday, October 26, 2014

'Ebola racism': how the world is discriminating against Africans

Increasing anxiety and fear over the Ebola virus has led to what many commentators have dubbed "Ebola racism".

"People are being shunned and mocked for having visited, or even for simply having been born in, Africa – and anywhere in Africa will do, afflicted with Ebola or not," writes The Intercept's Andrew Jones.

He argues that the "hysteria" surrounding the virus in the West is an example of "ignorant discrimination that immigrants in general and Africans specifically have endured for decades".

So, how are Africans being discriminated against?

Read more: 'Ebola racism': how the world is discriminating against Africans

Friday, October 17, 2014

Kofi Annan: Ebola neglected because it started in Africa

Wealthy countries were slow to tackle the Ebola epidemic as it began in Africa, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said in tough criticism of the response to the crisis on Thursday.

"I am bitterly disappointed by the response... I am disappointed in the international community for not moving faster," Annan told the flagship BBC programme Newsnight.

"If the crisis had hit some other region it probably would have been handled very differently. In fact when you look at the evolution of the crisis, the international community really woke up when the disease got to America and Europe."

Read more: Kofi Annan: Ebola neglected because it started in Africa

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Second Texas nurse has Ebola

A second Texas nurse who had contracted Ebola flew on a commercial flight from Ohio to Texas with a slight temperature the day before she was diagnosed, health officials said on Wednesday, raising new concerns about U.S. efforts to control the disease.

Chances that other passengers on the plane were infected were very low, but the nurse should not have been traveling on the flight, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Thomas Frieden told reporters.

The woman, Amber Vinson, 29, was isolated immediately after reporting a fever on Tuesday, Texas Department of State Health Services officials said. She had treated Liberian patient Thomas Eric Duncan, who died of Ebola and was the first patient diagnosed with the virus in the United States.

Read more: New Texas nurse with Ebola had slight fever on airliner

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Some blame racism, but could anger be the cause of Eric Duncan's death?

In the days following the death of Eric Duncan due to Ebola, many have questioned whether his race played a role in how he was treated while in the hospital. Many have pointed out how white patients were given experimental drugs or blood transfusions from recovered Ebola patients as evidence that racism may have played a part in Duncan's death.

My question is could it be something other than racism. Could it be that doctors and nurses were angry at Duncan for coming back into the United States knowing that he may be sick and thus endangering them all? Could they have reacted to that fact consciously or more likely subconsciously and not treated Duncan as well as they could have?

I know that those in the medical field are professionals and claim to adhere to high ethical standards but they are human. And like with have recently with police officers high standards doesn't stop them from doing wrong. So do you think that anger may have played more a role than racism in Eric Duncan's death, or that he was just treated too late?