Ebola upsurge could undo progress in blink of an eye, warns expert

THE GUARDIAN by Sam Jones                           March 26, 2015

Despite the massive push to bring the number of new Ebola cases down to zero as quickly as possible, there will inevitably be “flare-ups” that could reverse the overall downward trend and prove difficult to contain, the UN’s response co-ordinator has warned.

Dr David Nabarro, the UN’s special envoy for Ebola, said the huge medical, administrative and logistical operation to fight the disease could still be set back by individuals ignoring official advice.

“There will be flare-ups, there will be disappointments; there will be people who evade quarantine – because nobody likes being told to stay put – there will be people who choose not to declare that they’ve got a relative ill, there will be people who get ill and just misdiagnose themselves,” he said....

Nabarro reacted cautiously to this week’s scathing report from the medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The report said the Ebola crisis had laid bare the “age-old failures” of the humanitarian aid system, and accused the WHO of repeating the mistakes of previous public health emergencies... 

“As always in a major health crisis, there will be different perspectives on what went on and why particular problems occurred, so let’s wait and see what the others have got to say through their own exercises before final conclusions are reached,” said Nabarro.
Read complete report.
http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/mar/26/ebola-expert-david-nabarro-renewed-outbreaks-inevitable-guinea-sierra-leone-liberia