Publication

This paper outlines the weaknesses in the international and domestic health systems exposed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa that began in 2013 and discusses how to deal with this problem. More specifically, the authors contend that the outbreak exposed two weaknesses: 1) the inability of the international community to rapidly mobilize an effective response; and 2) a lack of adequate capacity at the domestic level for preparedness and response. They then suggest that while a number of proposals have focused on gaps in the international response, none have dealt with how to improve domestic systems. To address this, they suggest that the World Bank, in collaboration with the WHO, should develop a pandemic prevention program to enable low-income countries to improve their health care systems to prevent the next infectious disease epidemic.