"ımf Polıcıes Made The Ebola Outbrake Worse"

- The Ebola outbreak has been made worse by policies advocated by the International Monetary Fund, according to the results of a research done by Cambridge University academics.

Research from the university’s sociology department said the IMF’s programmes of economic reform in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, which included reduced government spending, has stunted the development of effective health systems there, according to news portal Cambridge News.

The research results meant, three West African countries, which were already struggling with the legacies of conflict and state failure, were inadequately prepared to cope with outbreaks such as Ebola, which has killed more than 7,300 since March this year, and other similar large-scale emergencies.

Cambridge sociologist Alexander Kentikelenis, the lead author of the report said that the major reason why the Ebola outbreak spread so rapidly was the weakness of healthcare systems in the region, and it would be unfortunate if underlying causes were overlooked.

POORLY PREPARED HEALTH SYSTEMS
"Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with Ebola outbreaks" he said.

The research, which contained input from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined links between the IMF and the rapid spread of the disease.

DECENTRALIZED HEALTHCARE SYSTEM
The researchers said they had reviewed the policies enforced by the IMF between 1990 and 2014 and were able to examine the effects on the three countries, which have suffered high casualties in the outbreak, and identified three factors that led to further weakening of their healthcare systems.

The three factors were that the IMF required economic reforms that reduced government spending, often required caps on the public sector wage bill and that it campaigned for decentralised healthcare systems.

THE IMF: COMPLETELY UNTRUE
A spokesman for the IMF, which is charged with working with member countries to ensure sustained, inclusive and stable economic growth, said it was “completely untrue” that the spread of Ebola was a direct consequence of the IMF’s fiscal and monetary policies.

"Since 2009, loans from the IMF to low-income countries have been at zero interest rate, which has freed up resources for countries to spend more on health and education" he added.