The whole world must unite to defeat Ebola - Opinon - africareview.com

" ... Running clinical trials under the auspices of affected countries’ health ministries and the WHO — with full transparency in terms of processes and outcomes — would enable the relevant authorities to make timely and informed decisions regarding which treatments and vaccines to investigate further and when to deploy them. The current Ebola epidemic is not the first public health disaster to highlight the failings of the existing system. Pharmaceutical companies have been reluctant to make the antiretroviral medications used to treat HIV and Aids available in a cost-effective manner for public health use. With business interests dictating global pharmaceutical priorities, developing countries consistently lose out with devastating results. In any public health crisis, especially one like the current Ebola outbreak, potential profits cannot guide drug development or deployment. As soon as a vaccine or treatment is deemed suitable for implementation, it must be made available in large quantities, to be administered quickly to citizens at no cost to them. Of course, transparent clinical trials and open-data platforms raise legitimate ethical and intellectual property concerns. And, given the high cost of research and development, pharmaceutical companies are naturally concerned about competitors reverse-engineering their drugs. However, these longstanding concerns should not be allowed to impede efforts to address the immediate threat that Ebola poses ..."