If you were a child born in Sierra Leone, there is an 18.2 percent chance that you will not live to blow out five candles on a birthday cake that you most likely do not have access to. That is three to four students in the average class size of 20 students at Pepperdine. If you were born as a woman In Liberia, there would be a one in 24 lifetime chance of you dying in childbirth, and in countries such as Sierra Leone and Liberia, Ebola, along with malaria and pneumonia, is actually a sizable health risk. Where is the international concern for these health risks that rank much higher in mortality rates? Where is the global zeal to end diseases that do not have “potential” to penetrate the West?
Just the other day, I read that more people have been married to Kim Kardashian than have died from Ebola in the United States. Between 2006 and 2010, over 1,000 Americans have set themselves on fire in drunken stupors and over 100 Americans die every year from “equestrian-related activities” annually. Car accidents claimed 33,783 lives in 2011. The point is made. In America, there are plenty of things to worry about instead of Ebola. Ebola is a threat in West Africa due to extreme poverty, poor infrastructure, and meager healthcare. Ebola is a symptom of a greater problem — one that allowed the disease to spread like it did.
As far as epidemics go, consider this: there are 40,000 suicide deaths annually in America. These are symptoms of a greater problem — one that trivializes mental health as a second-rate health concern. There are also 33,000 traffic-related deaths annually. However, the number one killer is heart disease, clocking in at 375,295 deaths in 2011. This is a symptom of an economy that subsidizes food items containing high fructose corn syrup. These concerns may not be “infectious” as the term “epidemic” would imply, but it is much worse — it is structurally supported and dismissed as preventable because it is not “spreadable” through coughs or kisses.
According to historian David Oshinsky of New York University, we live in a “post-Vietnam, post-Watergate, Internet-obsessed culture, where respect for government pronouncements and expert opinion has dramatically eroded.” This is why with the first American Ebola death, social media began questioning the ability of American healthcare to contain the virus. These doubts extend to the government’s ability to screen travelers, and this viral distrust climbs even though Ebola can only be spread through contact with bodily fluids of an individual already exhibiting symptoms.
Finally, there is actual harm in perpetuating a meaningless, inconsequential hysteria. In the medical world, combating widespread hysteria can severely limit the ability to fight pertinent medical causes due to limited resources.
Let us remember what is important as we fight epidemics of our own.
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Follow Justina Huang on Twitter: @huanderwoman
