THE EBOLA FIGHTERS have been named TIME magazine’s Person of the Year 2014.
They came out top of a shortlist that included the Ferguson protesters, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Russian President Vladimir Putin and singer Taylor Swift.
Editor Nancy Gibbs explains the publication’s choice in an essay published this afternoon.
“Anyone willing to treat Ebola victims ran the risk of becoming one,” she writes.
Which brings us to the hero’s heart. There was little to stop the disease from spreading further. Governments weren’t equipped to respond; the World Health Organization was in denial and snarled in red tape. First responders were accused of crying wolf, even as the danger grew. But the people in the field, the special forces of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Christian medical-relief workers of Samaritan’s Purse and many others from all over the world fought side by side with local doctors and nurses, ambulance drivers and burial teams.
The piece also includes a number of quotes from doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and other frontline staff.
A Liberian nurse, Irish Martor, says: “If someone from America comes to help my people, and someone from Uganda, then why can’t I?”
Foday Gallah is a survivor and an ambulance driver. He says:
I want to give my blood so a lot of people can be saved. I am going to fight Ebola with all of my might.
Nurse’s assistant Salome Karwah is also a survivor (she describes the pain as like your head being busted with an axe). She lost both of her parents to Ebola but continued to bath and feed patients at an MSF clinic.
“It looked like God gave me a second chance to help others.”
During 2014, more than 6,300 people have perished in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
It is thought the first victim was a two-year-old boy called Emile in south-east Guinea in December last year. The outbreak was first declared in March after 50 people had died. By August, the WHO were describing Ebola as a global health emergency.
Gibbs warns that the global health system is not strong enough to keep us safe – and by “us” she means everyone, “not just those in faraway places”.
“The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight. For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are TIME’s 2014 Person of the Year.”
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