The governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea are rather unhappy at this time. They all have a growing outbreak of the Ebola virus, and they can’t stop it fast enough. The international community is stepping up, but is it too late?

Ernest Bai Koroma, the president of Sierra Leone, stated September 25 that the initial effort by the West was not enough to halt the outbreak, stating, “Our international partners were slow to recognize the threat for what it was.” He also states that his country was rebuilding and developing, and “We did not bring it upon ourselves.”

He believes the West should have been wiser and more decisive in aiding them, and I take his belief as valid, given he has the expertise to judge his country’s ability to fight the outbreak.

The other African countries are developing plans. On September 29 Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf met with her country’s congress to develop a plan for halting the outbreak and the economic recovery afterwards. Based on this information, the leaders of Africa have taken the right steps, but they simply lack the infrastructure and resources of America and Europe. We should have recognized this and offered aid sooner. The governments can decide how best to do it, but they need our doctors and hospitals to do so.

The World Health Organization, or WHO, declares that two vaccines are being developed for the disease, which has about a 50% fatality rate, and that they had been receiving data from four sources, which is now corrected. The data gathered appears to be extensive, but it shouldn't have gotten to that point.

The world appears to be gearing up to fight this disease, and whether we acted wisely or not at first, we now will commit to eradicating this virus from destroying the countries it threatens. It is to be hoped that the damage of initially low international aid will not amount to destruction of the countries infected.