Global Futures Initiative

The Ebola crisis is an unfortunately perfect example of how the burden of an epidemic falls disproportionately on the poorest in society and on a very different response. A few Ebola cases caused panic and drama in the United States but it took months for thousands of cases in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone to elicit a serious response. There, poverty and the ravages of long conflicts resulted in some of the world’s most dysfunctional health systems. Ebola spread fast.

Dr. Kim observed that the Ebola survival rate in developed countries is over 80 percent, while it has been roughly 30 percent in Africa. The gap conveys the dire situation of poor patients: inadequate medical resources, insufficient health care personnel, and slow response by the international community.

The former co-founder and executive director of Partners In Health is right in his two-fold claim: the poor are far more affected by many diseases, and strong preventation and faster response are needed to address similar crises.            
I was disappointed, however, that Dr. Kim’s did not mention the disproportionate burden Ebola has on women, since he is an advocate for those most marginalized by disease.

Women have fought courageously on the Ebola frontlines. More women than men are nurses tending sick patients. At home, women are the caregivers of family and neighbors, at considerable risk to themselves. Because of various social and cultural norms, Ebola afflicts women up to three times as often as it does men. In Liberia, for example, 75 percent of Ebola victims have been women. And it’s not just Ebola: similar disparities can be seen for HIV/AIDS, maternal health care, tuberculosis, and even mental health.

The Ebola outbreak thus offers a commentary on gender inequity as well as on poverty.

A preferential option for the poor should involve a preferential option for women. Gender-tuned measures are needed, such as equipping female nurses who provide much of the health response in these countries. Mothers, sisters, and daughters need information how disease is transmitted, how to protect themselves, and the basics of treatment. Such a focus would help save lives and avert suffering. 

Now it is time to change course - both in responding equitably and fast to epidemics, and to sharpen the focus in that response on those who are truly the most vulnerable.  

Spencer Crawford (SFS'16) is an undergraduate student in the Georgetown Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service class of 2016, majoring in Science, Technology, and International Affairs with a certificate in Religion, Ethics, and World Affairs.