Medical teams should fight pandemics
President Obama has promised to put America’s resources and resolve behind the fight against the Ebola virus. He is right to do so. The United States is equipped to lead – materially, scientifically, morally – the battle against this deadly and dangerous virus.
It is in our own self interest to do so, as it is a moral obligation to our fellow human beings.
However, this measure aside, we should ask some serious questions about the effort.
We are sending military forces to Africa to set up hospitals and perform other acts of mercy. The American military services are equipped and capable for these duties. But is the military really the institution we want to tap for an assignment like this?
The latest outbreak of Ebola is the largest, most deadly yet. The virus is capable of mutating quickly and spreading far beyond the remote villages it is now ravaging.
In this day of fast travel, what if an infected person brings the virus to a megacity in Africa like Lagos or Kinshasa? What if the virus spreads to a crowded and poor megacity like Karachi or Mexico City? We would then witness an epidemic of gigantic proportions.
These possibilities have been known for a long time. Our scientific knowledge of epidemics has increased greatly. So has our realization that in a globalized economy, no area is too far from the rest of civilization.
Why doesn’t the United States develop a group of specialists who are trained in handling epidemics at an early stage? We have emergency response teams that dispatch around the world when a major earthquake hits. Why not emergency medical teams?
Adam Garfinkle of The American Interest magazine suggested such teams could be dispatched at the beginning of an outbreak. We would not have to wait until the plague spreads to so many areas that the world has to sit up and take notice.
In addition to aiding the victims, such teams would help not only the United States, but the rest of the world as well. “There is no effective ‘Fortress America’ strategy against pandemics,” Mr. Garfinkle said.
Certainly, other countries with the resources could do something similar. It would help everyone if these teams worked together, coordinating their actions and cooperating with organizations like Doctors Without Borders.
The United Nations should play a part. But the UN, slow and bureaucratic, must learn to move more quickly and without the political rancor that often accompanies its actions.
The world, in effect, is shrinking. A dangerous virus can spread far more quickly than ever. We also know more about containing or, at least, slowing such outbreaks.
Someday, perhaps, we will develop vaccines for these viruses. But that “someday” is far off. A mobile medical corps could be so much faster and so much more effective.
Let us learn that lesson before the “next time.”