Nothing highlights the bankruptcy of the deregulation, corporatisation, privatisation and globalisation revolution that has swept the world over the past three decades than the human and economic devastation caused by the Ebola epidemic in Western Africa. Over a decade ago all the pure research that was needed to embark on a vaccination trial had been carried out, all that was needed was a billion dollars to carry out that trial.
The researchers involved could not convince the private sector of the return to investors as Ebola, a decade ago, was an interesting virus that had only affected a few hundred people. Governments in Africa didn't have the resources or finances to tackle the problem. The United Nations chronic underfunding limited its ability to tackle the issue, although it had been warning the world about the devastating consequences of the virus.
The economically developed world gripped by the profit, irrespective of the human, social and environmental consequences, bug, turned its head the other way as it realised there were no profits to be made from the misery of a few hundred people. Hopefully the current epidemic in Western Africa and its potential spread to the rest of the world will be the impetus needed to create an international organisation under the auspices of the United Nations, funded by its members that can be used to monitor potential infection threats and create vaccines and treatment options before
the horse bolts from the stable.