摘要：Disease outbreaks and catastrophes can affect countries at any time, causing substantial human suffering and deaths and economic losses. If health systems are ill-equipped to deal with such situ- ations, the affected populations can be ver y vulnerable. 1 The current Ebola virus disease out- break in western Africa highlights how an epidemic can proliferate rapidly and pose huge problems in the absence of a strong health system capable of a rapid and integrated response. The outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 but soon spread into neighbouring Liberia and Sierra Leone. 2 In early August 2014, Ebola was declared an international public health emergency.
