In The News

White House Pushes Back on State Ebola Quarantines

Colleen McCain Nelson, Melanie Grayce West and Betsy McKay October 27, 2014
Politicians in the United States are adding to challenges of health care workers traveling to West Africa to combat an Ebola epidemic. The federal government agreed to funneling travelers from West Africa, including health workers, to five airports. Three of those airports are among states that required 21-day mandatory quarantine for anyone reporting direct contact with Ebola patients, reports...

Ebola: The Dark Side of Globalization

Trond Undheim October 21, 2014
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...

Muslim Pilgrims Begin Hajj Pilgrimage

October 8, 2014
Saudi Arabia has dispatched more security personnel and health workers for this year’s annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca – 85,000 security and civil defense officers and 18 aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters have been deployed, reports Agence France Presse. This security expansion is largely in response to the alarming spread of the Islamic State on the attack in Iraq and Syria and threatening...

Health Care Gaps Increase Vulnerability to Ebola

Laurie Garrett October 6, 2014
Ebola will test the world’s diverse systems of health care. The United States is alone among advanced economies in lacking a universal health care system, and its health care costs more per capita than that of any other country. A system with unequal benefits makes the country vulnerable on two fronts: US hospitals offer state-of-the art treatment, a plane ride away, for the insured or those with...

How to Fund the Ebola Fight

Paula Kavathas September 18, 2014
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session on Ebola today, at the request of the United States. The disease is spreading quickly in West Africa and, with global air travel, could quickly hop new borders. The health infrastructure of West Africa is weak, with limited resources and trained personnel. Prevention is the goal for a virus with no approved vaccine or therapeutic. Funding is...

Heading Off a Bigger Ebola Catastrophe

Scott Gottlieb and Tevi Troy September 15, 2014
Ebola is spreading rapidly through African communities and devastating economies. Advanced nations can prevent the spread beyond West Africa by organizing intense research efforts and development of vaccines, encouraging donations for the prevention effort, and mandating screening efforts while maintaining open borders. Paradoxically, allowing open borders reduces fear. Otherwise, the infected...

Desperate Chinese Seek Medical Care Abroad

Fanfan Wang September 10, 2014
Health tourism flows in two ways: Patients from the United States seek to save on routine procedures, while the wealthy in countries like China pay cash to top medical centers in the United States and Europe for treatment. “The majority of such travelers go on tourist visas, often not stating the purpose of the trip in the visa interview, according to Saint Lucia, a Beijing-based consultancy on...