Time
http://time.com/

We Need a Global Health Emergency Corps to Fight Ebola
25 September 2014
by Jack C. Chow, former assistant director-general at the WHO
…To confront Ebola and future waves of “flashdemics” — high velocity, high lethality outbreaks — a new intervention strategy is needed: The creation of an international medical ground force that can be immediately dispatched to stricken zones, endowed with authority to enter countries unimpeded and begin operations. This rapid response unit can quickly and directly treat the ill, humanely care for the dying, and prevents spread to the vulnerable. This unit would implement strategies worked out in advance from a response playbook with pre-determined roles for responders.
A medical reserve force could terminate nascent outbreaks quickly and spare further cost in lives and resources. A stricken country can then recover and rebuild from the emergency response to strengthen its health system against future threats. A coalition of countries, especially those with advanced health systems, could create a force in short order by contributing teams from existing agencies.
However, this kind of badly needed at-the-ready, direct intervention capacity, at a national or regional scale, does not currently exist…