Media/Policy Watch

AP (Associated Press)
Accessed 22 November 2014
http://www.ap.org/

WHO chief promises transparency in Ebola review
Associated Press | 19 November 2014
ROME (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization refused Wednesday to respond to criticism about the U.N. agency’s performance in containing the Ebola outbreak, saying the focus now should be on helping countries contain it.
Dr. Margaret Chan said the agency would review how the whole world — and the WHO in particular — managed the outbreak “and there will be time for sharing information in a transparent and accountable manner.”
“But at this point in time, it is important for us to focus our entire energy and attention to help countries who are being affected to get the job done,” she said…

AP IMPACT: ‘Vaccine court’ keeps claimants waiting
Associated Press | 18 November 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — A system Congress established to speed help to Americans harmed by vaccines has instead heaped additional suffering on thousands of families, The Associated Press has found.
The premise was simple: quickly and generously pay for medical care in the rare cases when a shot to prevent a sickness such as flu or measles instead is the likely cause of serious health complications. But the system is not working as intended.
The AP read hundreds of decisions, conducted more than 100 interviews, and analyzed a database of more than 14,500 cases filed in a special vaccine court. That database was current as of January 2013; the government has refused to release an updated version since…

Council on Foreign Relations
http://www.cfr.org/
Accessed 22 November 2014
Book
Ebola: Story of an Outbreak
by Laurie Garrett November 17, 2014
Laurie Garrett offers a masterful account of the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Zaire, and argues these lessons learned must be applied to solve the Ebola crisis of 2014 and to understand one of mankind’s most mysterious, malicious scourges.

Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/
Accessed 22 November 2014
Ebola Lessons And The Way Forward
Bill Frist, Contributor Nov 21, 2014
Thankfully—and appropriately—the panic surrounding Ebola in the United States has waned over the past weeks. But the calm doesn’t mean it’s time to move on, though the news cycle may have. All major crises can be teachable moments and now is the time to carefully consider our response to the Ebola outbreak and what we can learn to prevent these types of outbreaks in the future.