China and India should announce a joint Ebola mission

t_co

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We have all heard the terrible news about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. So far, there have been over 5000 cases and 3000 deaths, and the number of cases is doubling every 4-6 weeks. Public health infrastructure in these impoverished nations (even lower HDI than Bangladesh or Pakistan) is completely overwhelmed. (For example, Liberia's president recently reported that her country only has quarantine wards for 240 people when it needs at least 2-3,000 wards, etc.)

Both China and India have substantial investments in West Africa - investments which are now under jeopardy as the people who were supposed to shop, work, or live there become refugees or epidemic victims. The Western nations have been stingy thus far - the US recently announced it is sending 25 hospital beds exclusively for foreign doctors who have fallen ill caring for Africans but not for Africans themselves.

This is a golden opportunity for China and India to exercise joint leadership of a health relief effort. Rupees or Yuan spent on shipping a few thousand health workers into these regions would go a much longer way to building influence and safeguarding their investments there than any wining and dining of African presidents or acquisitions of oil concessions.

It would be ideal if Modi and Xi could make an announcement during their meeting; it would show the world that both leaders do care about nations other than their own and also know how to marry their interests with the global good in an enlightened manner.

Given that some DFIers here do appear to have the voice of stakeholders in the GoI, I would ask all of you to please reach out to them to see what they can do. I will contact my friends inside the government of China. We can make this happen.
 

indiatester

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We have all heard the terrible news about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. So far, there have been over 5000 cases and 3000 deaths, and the number of cases is doubling every 4-6 weeks. Public health infrastructure in these impoverished nations (even lower HDI than Bangladesh or Pakistan) is completely overwhelmed. (For example, Liberia's president recently reported that her country only has quarantine wards for 240 people when it needs at least 2-3,000 wards, etc.)

Both China and India have substantial investments in West Africa - investments which are now under jeopardy as the people who were supposed to shop, work, or live there become refugees or epidemic victims. The Western nations have been stingy thus far - the US recently announced it is sending 25 hospital beds exclusively for foreign doctors who have fallen ill caring for Africans but not for Africans themselves.

This is a golden opportunity for China and India to exercise joint leadership of a health relief effort. Rupees or Yuan spent on shipping a few thousand health workers into these regions would go a much longer way to building influence and safeguarding their investments there than any wining and dining of African presidents or acquisitions of oil concessions.

It would be ideal if Modi and Xi could make an announcement during their meeting; it would show the world that both leaders do care about nations other than their own and also know how to marry their interests with the global good in an enlightened manner.

Given that some DFIers here do appear to have the voice of stakeholders in the GoI, I would ask all of you to please reach out to them to see what they can do. I will contact my friends inside the government of China. We can make this happen.
Excellent suggestion. The motivation should be humanitarian from our perspective.
 

kseeker

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BTW, has anyone watched the TV Series: The Last Ship?

The Last Ship (TV Series 2014– ) - IMDb

Naval Destroyer Nathan James is sent on what they're told is a research mission in the Arctic. Accompanying them is scientist, Rachel Scott. After a few months in the Arctic while Scott is on the ice doing research, some men attack them. They get back to the ship and the Commander, Tom Chandler asks the doctor what's going on. She says that a deadly disease broke out a few months ago. At first, they thought it was contained but they had no cure. They felt that the cure was in the Arctic which why she's here. But she has since received word that it has now spread to most of the globe. Chandler tries to call the President but learns the President and Vice President are dead and the US government might not have long to survive. The current President tells him that the Nathan James was not in the hot zone so he and his crew are OK. But now it's up to them to safeguard Scott because she holds the key to the planet's survival. But there are those who want the cure too and will do what they ...
The Last Ship (TV series) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After a global viral pandemic "wipes out" over 80% of the world's population, the crew (consisting of 217 men and women) of a lone unaffected U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer, the fictional USS Nathan James (DDG-151), must try to find a cure, to stop the virus and save humanity.[5]
Maybe it's a coincidence, however this Ebola outbreak started during the same time when this series started on American TV!
 

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