Grace and Ebola

[boris1gary]

https://newmatilda.com/2014/10/10/one-women-photo-has-grace-and-one-them-just-named-grace

One Of The Women In This Photo Has Grace, And One Of Them Is Just Named Grace

Columnist for The Australian Grace Collier worries some of us are going to get Ebola and die. Chris Graham doesn't want to get his hopes up.

If you’re a leftie, then the tweet I’m about to share with you is going to do your head in. It’s one of those opinions that, if you value humanity, compassion, courage, selfless sacrfice blah blah blah, is almost impossible to understand.

Late yesterday, uber-conservative columnist for The Australian, Grace Collier, decided to share her thoughts on Ebola with the world.

“Why do Australians go overseas, expose themselves to a hideous disease, then come back and risk infecting the rest of us? #Ebola”.

[iapetus_rocks]

But we're not doing that, are we? We pay lip service to the cause. Science . . medicine, informs us that quarantine is the best effective means of control of the spread of infectious diseases. But we won't do that because it costs so much. It might not cost me or you anything, but there are people who have the ear of govts. who know that this policy will cost them plenty.

So, they minimise their costs at the expense of costing us the people, the public sector, much, much more.

[goldenjet16]

Yeah.... Sometimes it makes you wonder. There are people who see this and they want something done now! There are others however who will wait till they're up to their butts in alligators before thinking "maybe we should have drained the swamp".

[iapetus_rocks]

 And there are those who will say, "Wow, what a lot of alligators. We could make a killing if we caught them and sold their skins."

Gotta go now, nice talking to you, I know we come from diametrically opposite ends of the political spectrum, but no worries, mate. We can find common ground in our shared experience of the human condition. 🙂

[goldenjet16]

Nah!! From what I've read of your post on other threads not that much difference in our train of thought. Other than our religious beliefs. At least on my end 😉

And I definitely agree here. The pleasure was all mine.

[boris1gary]

doesn't surprise me at all. shame they don't need some bombs dropped, we can do that.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/12/cuba-leads-fights-against-ebola-africa

Cuba leads fight against Ebola in Africa as west frets about border security

The island nation has sent hundreds of health workers to help control the deadly infection while richer countries worry about their security – instead of heeding UN warnings that vastly increased resources are urgently needed

As the official number of Ebola deaths in west Africa’s crisis topped 4,000 last week – experts say the actual figure is at least twice as high – the UN issued a stark call to arms. Even to simply slow down the rate of infection, the international humanitarian effort would have to increase massively, warned secretary-general Ban Ki-moon.

“We need a 20-fold resource mobilisation,” he said. “We need at least a 20-fold surge in assistance – mobile laboratories, vehicles, helicopters, protective equipment, trained medical personnel, and medevac capacities.”

But big hitters such as China or Brazil, or former colonial powers such France and the UK, have not been stepping up to the plate.

Instead, the single biggest medical force on the Ebola frontline has been a small island: Cuba.

That a nation of 11 million people, with a GDP of $6,051 per capita, is leading the effort says much of the international response. A brigade of 165 Cuban health workers arrived in Sierra Leone last week, the first batch of a total of 461. In sharp contrast, western governments have appeared more focused on stopping the epidemic at their borders than actually stemming it in west Africa. The international effort now struggling to keep ahead of the burgeoning cases might have nipped the outbreak in the bud had it come earlier.

[goldenjet16]

Oh.... so for the first time someone else is pitching in eh'. Great for Cuba. So is this your rebuttal to my post, if you think the U.S doesn't lead the world in aid your sadly misinformed. And I'm paying for it.

There's a fact that some of these Africans are seeing witch doctors because they think it's a demon, and will not accept help from aid workers.

I bet you didn't know Bush gave more money/aid to Africa than any other president in history. But you conveniently pasted that up. I'm not a bush fan but facts are facts. Some people just have tunnel vision. 😉

[goldenjet16]

I don't agree with all of this, but very interesting.

http://youtu.be/17m8OnHC7dQ

[boris1gary]

goldenjet16, just read your posts - my post re: Cuba leading the fight against ebola was not a rebuttal of your post and as I am in Australia unless I specifically mention US govt I am usually referring to our govt, not yours - tunnel vision... the US isn't the govt of the world although it does sometimes seem as if they think they are.

[goldenjet16]

"the US isn't the govt of the world although it does sometimes seem as if they think they are."

Good point..... The way we give away our money you would think everyone is part of the U.S.

[monman12]

It is a pity that petty attitudes and lack of research (sorry)  intrude upon a subject that has so far taken so many lives and has the potential to exponentially claim more.

"That the U.S. finds itself reliant on a Cold War rival underscores the lopsided humanitarian response to the Ebola epidemic. The U.S. is the biggest donor nation, having pledged to send nearly 4,000 troops and nearly $400 million in other aid. It is sending 65 U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps officers to staff an Ebola ward for health-care providers in Liberia. More than 2,600 health volunteers have signed up on a government website for possible deployment with aid organizations."

"Perhaps none is quite so odd as the sight of Cuban doctors joining forces with the U.S. military to combat Ebola in West Africa. Cuba has long had an antagonistic relationship with its northern neighbor, the U.S."

"The Cubans play down any rivalry with the Americans. “Against Ebola, we can work with anyone,” said Jorge Delgado Bustillo, head of the Cuban Medical Brigade to Sierra Leone.Mr. Bustillo. “The United States? Yes, we can.”

nɥºɾ