Parallel session
Health: continuing, new and future crises

The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa led to a disaster of unforeseen magnitude and complexity. The most severely affected countries, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, do not have functioning health systems, lacking the health workforce and other basic resources. 

International collaborations have been galvanized to speed up the pipeline for Ebola vaccines and therapies. As was seen during the Ebola outbreak, there is a continued trend of attacks on health workers in conflicts and other humanitarian crises, which represent a breach of the fundamental right to health. These countries also only recently emerged from long periods of conflict and instability.

How do we test and make a new vaccine available as fast as possible while ensuring its safety and effectiveness to fight deadly epidemics such as Ebola? How do we ensure that health workers that care for the sick and vulnerable in crisis situations are protected to carry on their mission? What are the long–term effects of conflicts and natural disasters on the population health and demography? This session explores the questions above.

Chair

Yoko Akachi, UNU-WIDER

Speakers

Rudi Coninx, WHO   Presentation | Video
Jocelyn Finlay, Harvard University   Presentation | Video
Mandy Kader Konde, FOSAD Guinea   Presentation | Video

Questions and answers