Ebola Regional Fund Shows Growing Solidarity in West Africa

As the Ebola outbreak in West Africa renews debate about the effectiveness of health systems and lays bare – once again – the limitations of international action to respond to specific diseases, an article on The Conversation by Professor of Social Policy and IKD member Nicola Yeates looks at how West African countries are responding collectively, and what this says about the potential for regional state groupings to support health programmes.

If, as Professor Yeates concludes, regional integration has the potential to support the comprehensive health systems that would be able to deal effectively with health threats such as Ebola, then regional strategies for strengthening social investment need to be properly resourced so that they are able to foster inclusive social, health and welfare systems and reduce social inequality.

And, as discussions about what happens post-2015 continue to be waged within the UN and elsewhere, she argues that now is the time for international organisations to wake up to the role that regional groups could play in attaining international development goals and to identify concrete ways in which they can be better supported to strengthen health systems and reduce poverty.

Read the full article.