Professor Bertrand Taithe has written a blog for ALNAP about the Ebola crisis.
The current Ebola crisis will end one day and we will have to think about its significance for humanitarian aid. Is this a turning point? What does it reveal for the societies where Ebola has run out of control and for the humanitarian aid which is struggling to match the needs it has generated? In what sense can a neglected disease, which flares up so regularly since 1976 continue being presented as a new emergency? What are the consequences of taking a security approach to a disease? Has Ebola brought a new perspective on danger and risk for the humanitarian system? From a historians perspective, is it a great leap backwards?