Ebola: The Dark Side of Globalization

People tend to notice the health and associated economic crises caused by a disease like Ebola only after the disease strikes close to home. But to protect all, every community must care for others far away, suggests Trond Undheim in an essay for Fortune. The chances of contracting Ebola are small, yet the precautions are costly, time-consuming, highly visible and alarming. “We may have understood globalization intellectually, but we have not digested its emotional effects, and we, for sure, have not yet experienced the full practical effect of its sting,” Undheim writes, pointing out that “the unknown factor with Ebola is not the virus itself, but people’s reactions to hearing about it.” Undheim anticipates other diseases to emerge, some even more contagious. The UN Millennium Development goals on eliminating poverty and improving education and sanitation are set to expire in 2015. Originally presented as “moral imperatives,” they could also be considered as means for self-preservation. – YaleGlobal