The Democratic Republic of Congo has banned mass gatherings in response to a fresh Ebola outbreak. British aid workers, of course, are on standby. How reassuring.
It seems we have not learned much since the days of plague pits and quarantine flags. The Congolese authorities have suspended public events, closed markets, and restricted movement in affected areas. This is sensible, certainly.
But let us not pretend this is anything other than a flailing attempt to control a disease that thrives on poverty, weak infrastructure, and political instability. The British aid workers, ever the heroes of the hour, will parachute in with their white suits and noble intentions. Yet the real question is whether they will address the systemic rot that allows Ebola to flourish.
The Victorians understood that sanitation was a matter of civilisation. We, with our modern medicine and global health networks, still cannot manage basic water and sewage in parts of Africa. The historical parallel is uncomfortable: the rich world’s interventions often resemble colonial paternalism, treating symptoms while ignoring the disease of underdevelopment.
The ban on gatherings is a stopgap. The true cure requires a long-term commitment to building functional states. But that lacks the dramatic appeal of white suits and helicopters.
So we applaud the ban, we ready our aid workers, and we pretend this is enough. It is not. The Fall of Rome was not a single event but a slow decay.
So too with Ebola: each outbreak is a symptom of a deeper malady. Until we address that, we will be forever on standby.
