“When the Ebola virus went from a nightmare to a real danger, the world was unprepared. Only the people were ready.” – Nancy Gibbs, TIME Editor
The image of a health worker who fights the spread of the Ebola virus has been named Person of the Year 2014 by TIME magazine.
When the Ebola virus went from an invisible monster, from a Hollywood horror and nightmare to a real danger, the world was not ready, writes TIME editor Nancy Gibbs in her article. “World governments were powerless to stop the spread of the fever. The WHO denied the danger and created confusion. The danger grew, but the first worried people were not believed. Only people turned out to be ready for confrontation — volunteers from Doctors Without Borders and other organizations from around the world. They fought the disease shoulder to shoulder with local doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers and funeral crews.
What prompted them to do this? Someone talks about God, someone about duty, someone about the instinct to move towards danger, and not away from it. “If someone comes from America or Uganda to help my people,” says Iris Martor, a Liberian nurse, “why can’t I?” Foday Gallah, an ambulance driver who survived his illness, considers his immunity a gift. “I want to donate blood to save people,” he says. «I’m going to fight the Ebola virus with all my might.» Salome Karwah, a nurse from Médecins Sans Frontières, stayed with the sick even after she herself suffered the disease and lost both parents in one week. “God gave me a chance to help others,” she says.
- The right to die humanly
Small children saw their mothers and fathers die, and no one could even hug these babies, because hugging could lead to infection. “People meet death alone, without loved ones, when only people in bioprotection suits are around,” says MSF president Joanne Liu. “No one should die like this.”
How will we deal with what we have learned? It was a test for the world: a test of the ability to withstand a possible pandemic. And this test is not passed. Questions remained unanswered — how to protect those who have not yet become ill from danger, and how to help those who have already become infected.
“Ebola is war and warning. The global health system is not strong enough to keep us safe from infectious diseases. “Us” is all and sundry, not just people living in remote places where disease is just one threat among many. Now the world can sleep peacefully at night only because of a group of people who are ready to fight. For their relentless courage and compassion, for giving the world time to step up its defenses, for taking risks, for perseverance, for dedication and for saving, Ebola fighters are named TIME’s 2014 People of the Year*.
* See time.com for details