FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC, USA (December 28, 2014) - Even as the tide seems to be ebbing on the Ebola virus epidemic, international health experts have issued a strong warning against global complacency on addressing the epidemic both in Africa and in United States.

The global health community must support a sustainable strategy to mitigate Ebola virus and other epidemics both within and outside their shores, even after the cameras are gone, write experts in a joint commentary just published in the Washington, DC-based International Journal of MCH and AIDS.

The experts, with global health experiences in Africa, Asia, Europe and United States, asserted that from the increasing number of deathsand new cases of the disease identified in two developed countries that struggled and faltered in their handling of the epidemic, it is apparent that the 2014 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) epidemic is unlike any of its kind ever. “Ebola virus must not be called the disease of the poor and developing world,” said Dr. Romuladus Azuine, the lead author of the commentary which is available free from the journal’s website.

They added that the ability of some poor, resource-limited, developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa to efficiently handle the epidemic within their shores in a way that some western countries could not, provides some lessons learned for the global health community. “The 2014 EVD epidemic teaches us that it is time to put the “P” back in public and population health around the world,” they remarked.

They cautioned against the numerous missteps, misspeaks, and misdeedsof the public health system in handling ofthe Ebola virus disease outbreak in the US andwestern countries, adding that an efficientpublic health system must be color and statusblindoffering equal opportunities to all peoplesregardless of their nationalities, racial/ethnic, oreconomic or social conditions.

The experts said that the Ebola epidemic has taught the world that:
• There is no geographic monopoly of the fountain ofknowledge. Learning can come from anywhere: theglobal South can teach the global North something;
• Global health is local health. Public andpopulation health can no longer be defined in termsof national boundaries. There is no longer a global orlocal/national health; and
• Putting the “P” Back in Public Health. The handling, or mishandling, of the outbreakboth in the developing and the developed worldteaches us the critical importance of putting the“P” (public) back in public health.

For more details visit http://mchandaids.org/

Contact:
Dr. Romuladus E. Azuine
Editor-in-Chief, International Journal of MCH and AIDS
Email: [email protected]
Company Name: International Journal of MCH and AIDS
Website: http://mchandaids.org/

###