BETRAYAL OF TRUST Part 2

The next section of BETRAYAL OF TRUST:
The Collapse of Global Public
Health by Laurie Garrett is even more
interesting than the first.

Maybe it's because I've been reading
so many of these medical thriller
books lately, but I was fascinated by
this account of a more recent
Ebola outbreak in Kikwit Zaire/Congo.

Yambuku Zaire was one of the two places
where Ebola first became known, back in
1976. By all accounts, the country
was extremely poor since then, and
by 1995 it was even worse.

Ms. Garrett recounts the political
history of the country -- back to
when its dictator came to power
with backing from the CIA. Back in
the 1960s when the U.S. government
preferred pro-capitalist dictatorships
to pro-communist dictatorships.

Because the Soviet Union was seen
as the greatest threat to the world's
freedom -- though Ms. Garrett does
not mention Soviet world domination
as a threat to public health.

(Of course, the same people who
criticize the U.S. for this
policy now criticize President
Bush for promoting democracy in all
countries and
for going after a particularly
horrendous dictator -- Saddam
Hussein who not only terrorized his
own people, but his neighbors also.
Just goes to show how
they are hypocrities.

But that has nothing to do with this
book.)

And it is fun to note that she points
out how reporters intruded into the
privacy of the Ebola victims and
obstructed the entire investigation.

The lesson she draws that bad
government, war and social chaos
are bad for public health are
undoubtedly true.

I'm sure that the people of that country
would be much healthier if they
establish a stable democracy and begin
to take advantage of the natural
resource wealth of their country in a
fair way -- with the entrepreneurs who
take the risk getting a fair profit
but the people benefiting from a
fair government and using some of the
money for public health.

And I'm sure that a healthy Zaire (or
Congo or whatever name it's currently
called) would benefit the world, if
only by keeping Ebola under control.

So although I disagree with some of
her opinions, this chapter of the book
is great for everyone interesting in
the continuing saga of Ebola.