Ebola and the scourge of inequality in Africa

Lazarus Sauti

Matthew Arnold, English essayist (1822 – 1888), once said “our inequality materialises our upper class, vulgarises our middle class, and brutalises our lower class.”

True to his assertions, inequality, simply the quality of being uneven, is brutalising and vulgarising Africa as this scourge is still pervasive in the continent.

The rapid spread of the Ebola Virus Disease, for instance, points to the pain of inequality in Africa, the second largest continent in area and population, as it exposes the fragility of the health care.

Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, most affected countries, already rank at the bottom of the inequality adjusted Human Development Index – a measure of human development based on country level inequalities in health, education and income. Of 144 countries on the ranking, Liberia ranks at 135, Guinea at 138, and Sierra Leone 143.

On Ebola and the scourge of inequality in Africa, Robert Walker of the Population Institute, an international non-profit organisation that educates policymakers and the public about population, and seeks to promote universal access to family planning information, education, and services, notes: “While public health has improved in some countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone have not received access to the knowledge and infrastructure that could control the spread of infectious disease.”

Partners in Health co-founder Dr. Paul Farmer and author of the book “Infections and Inequalities: The Modern Plagues”, adds that the Ebola outbreak, which is the largest in history that we know about, is merely a reflection of the public health crisis in Africa, and it is about the lack of staff, stuff and systems that could protect populations, particularly those living in poverty, from outbreaks like this or other public health threats.

Sharing same views, World Bank President, Jim Kim, makes the crucial point that the current Ebola outbreak is much more than a public health crisis as it is an inequality crisis. “This pandemic shows the deadly cost of unequal access to basic services and the consequences of our failure to fix this problem.”

Not to be outdone, Dr. Margaret Chan, the director of the World Health Organisation, emphasises the dangers of the world’s growing social and economic inequalities. “The rich get the best care,” she says. “The poor are left to die.”

Measures should, therefore, be taken to close the inequality gap because if the world continues to be indifferent to global inequality, frankly, major outbreaks of disease will continue to occur and eradicate the human race.

Combating the current outbreak should be beyond saving lives in the short term as well as more than simply sending funding, medicine, and personnel to West Africa to contain the outbreak.

In fact, African and world leaders should spot light and re-focus on reducing the inequality between the global North and the global South that allows crises like the Ebola epidemic to keep happening in the developing world.

To shed off the inequality gap, world leaders should, therefore, remain committed to dramatically reduce extreme poverty and hunger.

Countries within and across the African continent must also invest in flexible institutions and infrastructure such as specialised isolation units and state-of-art laboratories as well as medicines.

Dr. Raymond Gilpin, the Academic Dean at the Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, National Defence University in Washington D.C, on the African Arguments blog writes that “investing in resilient institutions and infrastructure is critical because it helps establish a modicum of trust, provides some assurance of equitable socio-economic progress and helps stabilise communities.”

Professor Said Adejumobi, expert in political sciences, adds: “Investing and addressing inequality can be a win-win situation both for the powerful and powerless in society.

“It can create social harmony, mutual trust, and confidence between the haves and have-nots. It is a step towards a collective dream that another world – fairer and just – is possible and desirable for us all.”

Whilst speaking at the Second National Convention of the Medical Committee for Human Rights in Chicago, March 25, 1966, Martin Luther King, Jr. said that of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.

Accordingly, the Ebola Virus Disease crisis should be an opportunity for leaders to renew and revitalise Africa’s commitment towards ending massive inequality and bring justice in the healthcare sector.