The Lancet is a leading medical journal. But it does not just publish scientific studies. She has just thrown a stone into the pond by putting a real editorial online. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) may be partly responsible for the Ebola outbreak, say researchers from the Department of Sociology at the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine .
As Liberation points out, if the IMF has no expertise in health, the financial organization is nonetheless accused of having, in a way, added fuel to the fire: “The reform programs demanded by the organization have slowed down the development of effective health services, deciphers the daily Liberation. However, one of the main reasons for the rapid expansion of the epidemic is precisely the weakness of the health systems in the region. Repaying the debt was the priority for Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia. A diktat imposed by the IMF which prevented these African states “from increasing their social spending”, accuse the researchers in the Lancet.
This is “completely false,” replied an IMF spokesman. As proof, “since 2009, loans granted to low-income countries have been granted without interest rates, which has freed up available resources for countries wishing to spend more in the areas of health and education. added the spokesperson. And last September, the IMF granted $130 million in aid to the countries most seriously affected by the epidemic because “this humanitarian crisis could also have profound economic consequences.” But for Liberation, this is only the sign of an “arsonist playing fireman”!
