An Ebola patient has been snatched from a treatment ward in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United Kingdom, in a fit of post-colonial paternalism, has pledged a rapid response team. One might think we are reliving the Victorian era, when British explorers blundered into the heart of darkness armed with quinine and a sense of moral superiority. But let us not be distracted by the theatre of international aid.
The real story is the collapse of public health infrastructure in a region plagued by conflict and corruption. The patient was not merely 'taken'; he was spirited away by individuals who likely see the medical establishment as an instrument of foreign control. This is the predictable consequence of decades of neglect and exploitation.
And what does Britain offer? A rapid response team. As if speed can compensate for a lack of trust.
The historical parallels are chilling: we saw the same hubris before the fall of Rome, when the empire sent legions to patch up cracks in the frontier. The cracks are now fissures, and they run through Congo, through West Africa, through the very fabric of our global health system. The Ebola virus, like the barbarian hordes, does not respect borders.
The UK's pledge is a tourniquet on a haemorrhage. It will not stop the bleeding.
