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The Department for International Development (the Department) is coordinating the UK's response to the outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (Ebola) in West Africa. We wholeheartedly support the UK's efforts to combat the outbreak and commend the bravery of all those working on the ground, including those from the Armed Forces and the many volunteers who have travelled to the region to help. The international community was very slow to recognise the seriousness of the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa and the Department failed to respond with sufficient urgency to an emerging crisis which could have been contained had action been taken sooner. There are promising signs that the Department's interventions are having a tangible impact, although there remains uncertainty over the future trajectory of the outbreak. Once the outbreak has been contained, the Department needs to review whether its current preparedness and protocols when faced with a potential international medical emergency are adequate for effective prevention and response. Future efforts must be directed to bolstering health care systems in the region and to supporting governments to ensure that these are sufficiently robust to deal with the emergence of public health emergencies without their being overwhelmed. There is no scientific justification for the UK Government's decision to prevent direct flights to the affected region from the UK, something which has likely increased the cost and difficulty of dealing with the outbreak. These should be restored as soon as possible.
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