Ebola West Africa

About Ebola West Africa

The Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa from 2014 to 2016 was the largest Ebola outbreak in history. The outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 and spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone. By the time it was declared over in June 2016, there were approximately 28,600 cases and 11,300 deaths. The case fatality rate averaged 40 percent. The WHO declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern PHEIC in August 2014, about five months after the outbreak was officially identified in March 2014. Critics argued that the delayed international response allowed extensive transmission. The outbreak revealed critical weaknesses in global health emergency response capacity. The rVSV ZEBOV Ebola vaccine, developed by the Public Health Agency of Canada and Merck, was deployed during the outbreak and proved highly effective. Paul Farmer and Partners In Health provided clinical care and argued that intensive supportive care could substantially reduce mortality. The outbreak contributed to the creation of CEPI and improvements in WHO emergency response capabilities.