Securing Europe’s health: Ebola scourge leaves lasting questions

For the EU, there is the full knowledge that there will be a next time, with this or with another infectious disease.

The still-untamed Ebola outbreak in West Africa has killed thousands, devastated local economies and caused widespread human misery. It has also precipitated a bout of intense and highly critical introspection in the international community over the adequacy of its response.

The WHO has come in for particularly sharp criticism for perceived failings, but within the EU too there is a determination, tinged with a perceptible sense of guilt, to do better next time. And there is the full knowledge that there will be a next time, with this or with another infectious disease, and Europe cannot consider itself immune from the consequences, moral or material.

The European Commission and the Luxembourg presidency are organizing a ministerial conference on October 12-14 on lessons for public health from the outbreak, with the explicit aim of strengthening health security within the EU, as well as improving member states’ preparedness and responsiveness to future outbreaks.

The meeting will look at cooperation, prevention, treatment, diagnostics, communication, and global health security. Meanwhile, the Commission is preparing a report on how member states have complied with their obligation to plan for coping with cross-border threats. During the conference a newly created health prize for NGOs active during the Ebola epidemic will be awarded.

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The Commission’s research department has been delivering focused support to research into potential treatments, vaccines and diagnostic tests. Favipiravir, an anti-influenza drug produced by Toyoma Chemical, appears to reduce mortality by half in patients with early Ebola disease. Other supported projects explore how the virus damages blood vessel walls, aim at prevention of emerging zoonotic viruses with pandemic potential, streamline Europe’s clinical research response, and improve risk communication during infectious disease crises.

The EU has also funded the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Disease Preparedness, which is preparing a coordinated emergency research response available within 48 hours in case of a significant new or re-emerging outbreak.

But the special adviser to the United Nations on Ebola, Dr. Paul Farmer, has observed — specifically in respect of the EU — that “we cannot be prepared anywhere if we are not prepared everywhere.” And a study by the European Federation of Nurses found varying degrees of preparedness for Ebola and similarly infectious diseases among countries in Europe.