Ending poverty to help stop disease

Ebola has a very high mortality rate, but it spreads through bodily fluids contact, which means it will not so easily burst into a scaled epidemic. Therefore we should remain alert and not panic. Especially, there is no need to cut exchanges with the affected African countries; proper measures are enough to prevent the virus from gaining a foothold in China.

people.com.cn, Aug 4

Since Ebola was first reported in 1976, the illusion that Ebola is a challenge only to Africa has dominated people's thoughts and behavior; as a result, no effective medicine or vaccine against Ebola has been discovered yet, and the origin of the virus remains unclear. Now facts show that Africa is not an isolated island and no one is completely free from the threat of Ebola. The international society should coordinate and take joint actions against the virus before it is too late.

Southern Metropolis Daily, Aug 5

Ebola is not as far away from us as we imagined. Currently Hong Kong is worried about it spreading into the Special Administrative Region, but actually the whole nation must be on the alert because if the disease does spread into Hong Kong it would likely spread into Guangdong and other parts of the mainland. Diseases emerge and perish, but Ebola has spread because it emerged in a poor continent where health conditions are poor. We need to learn a lesson that the widening global wealth gaps are a challenge to us all and rich nations need to do more to prevent the spread of diseases, for themselves and for all.

Securities Times, Aug 2

For a long time, numerous volunteers, social institutions and international organizations have been endeavoring to save people from Ebola; they have contributed money, energy, even their lives, but still there has been little progress. Besides the low level of medical research, poverty, bad health conditions, unclean drinking water and the low usage rate of toilets, all help worsen the situation. To solve these problems, the joint efforts of all countries are needed.

Aug 1

(China Daily 08/06/2014 page8)