Britain slow to act over Ebola crisis, say MPs

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/24/britain-slow-reaction-ebola-crisis-say-mps

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Britain’s response to the Ebola emergency, which claimed more than 11,000 lives in west Africa between 2014 and 2015, was inadequate and flawed, MPs will reveal on Monday.

The House of Commons science and technology committee will publish a report on the lessons to be learned by the UK from the way it responded following the outbreak.

Flaws outlined in the hard-hitting report include criticism that ministers and senior officials were not briefed quickly enough about the rapid spread of Ebola, which began in Guinea in December 2013. It spread to much of west Africa and health officials only recently declared the emergency over.

The report is also critical of the lack of capacity to scale up vaccine production in the UK and of the failure of authorities to release the rapid diagnostic antigen test developed by Ministry of Defence scientists. This was tested on Sierra Leonean patients, but was then denied to west African nations at the height of the crisis, even though it would have been invaluable in tracing the disease’s progress.

After the outbreak of Ebola – which led to airlines cancelling direct flights to west Africa – there was widespread criticism of the World Health Organisation for its tardiness in declaring an emergency. An earlier report by health experts described the WHO’s failings as “egregious”.

Other experts told the science and technology committee, which gathered evidence at hearings last year, that the ban on direct flights to the region hindered Britain’s ability to send aid, supplies and volunteer doctors and probably increased the risk of the disease arriving in the UK.

One expert told the committee: “Travel still had to happen but, rather than happening directly, you had to go through a lot of complex routes.”

The only person to develop Ebola in Britain was Pauline Cafferkey, 40, a British aid worker who returned to Glasgow from Sierra Leone. Despite suffering serious complications caused by her infection, and being left critically ill for some time, she was eventually released from hospital after making a full recovery.