Ebola and Zika epidemics are driven by pathologies of society

This article is a foundation essay. These are longer than usual and take a wider look at a key issue affecting society.

The global health threats posed by recent viral epidemics, such as avian flu, H1N1, Ebola andZika, have been happening too frequently to be dismissed as coincidental.

Unless the global public health community invests in and develops better health systems that provide for the poor, such viruses will continue to spread and have severe effects.

The mosquito-borne Zika virus was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organisation in February 2016 due to an increase in the number of microcephaly cases in areas where the virus was found. Microcephaly is a birth defect where babies are born with abnormally small heads. A causal link between in-utero exposure to the Zika virus and microcephaly has not yet been proven.

see more at:http://www.sabc.co.za/news/a/b3e143804c3a776084a6dfc0c0d1c749/Ebola-and-Zika-epidemics-are-driven-by-pathologies-of-society-20160331