HealthRight Board member and Dean of Global Health at NYU, Dr. Cheryl Healton, and Clinical Associate Professor of Global Public Health at NYU, Dr. Christopher Dickey, identify the shortcomings of international development agencies in providing a comprehensive plan for disease prevention in Ebola-affected African countries.

Drs. Dickey and Healton note that although development agencies have been working with the national governments of the three affected countries for years on healthcare delivery, they have left out a focus on primary care and the development of public health protection infrastructure. They suggest that development agencies broaden their influence at the local level to strengthen public health systems, which has proven to be a successful strategy in countries such as Nigeria. This emphasis for strengthening public health systems also applies in the U.S. This became clear after the appearance of the disease in Texas and New York. The authors explain, “Epidemics like Ebola simply cannot take root and thrive in a vibrant, motivated community with a robust health system. If a stronger public health and health care delivery system had been in place at the community level in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea, the current crisis could have been prevented.”

Read the full article on Huffington Post.

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