I found the images of futility and violance in this film to be most compelling, especially when police forces were turned against the people, and a person was shot in the leg, causing an apparent open fracture, which he later succumbed to. The images of death and effected children were obviously used in this film to tug at "heartstrings" to promote an emotional response.
A point that I looked up to further my knowledge of the article was the stoning of the Ebola workers, if it was reported anywhere else (a hot topic) or if there was any new information available; only one other news source reported on this topic and that source does not appear to be reliable. I also looked up the possibility of Ebola workers actually transporting Ebola to others. I found that the protocals in place to prevent this is extensive and infection (the possibility of) is extremely low. I finally looked up Guiena village leaders to understand why they do not trust western medicine, to understand if it is generally like that; if they do not like outsiders invading their village or if it is a general fear of infection. In truth it is the latter.
I found the images of speaches by the liberian president to be out of place and not compelling. I also found the apparent lack of hard numerical and scientific data in the film to be offputting.
The article does not offer solutions on how to address this problem after the inital epidemic, it is instead a collection or statement in addressing what has been happening and leaves the question unanswered and leaves it up to others to find a solution.
I feel that this film would be best suited for a general public, non-scholarly, audiance. While it provides great, compelling, emotional stories of first hand accounts of ebola, it does not look at the disaster from an objective, scholarly, perspective.
Perspectives of public health officials, goverment workers (excluding the president), and international aid organizations such as doctors with out borders and the united nations (both of which are depicted), are not included in the film. More scholarly perspectives are also not included.
More scientific data and perspectives from public health officials could be used to broaden the perspective of this film and change its purpose from being an emotional film to being a more educational film.
The corrective action suggested by the film is to strengthen public health networks and response capabilities in liberia by means such as constructing more hospitals and health facilities and training more doctors and nurses to take care of the large numbers of effected people in epidemic situations.
I looked up
1. International response to the Ebola epidemic
- from http://ebolaresponse.un.org/liberia
I learned about how the UN coordinated various organizations, including UNICEF, the World Food Programme, and the WHO in their individual persuits to end the transmission of ebola in Liberia, including providing food, hygene kits, medical supplies and care, and how within 3 months of international joint operations the transmission rate of ebola was deacreased to zero.
2. Health Care in Liberia
Source http://www.aho.afro.who.int/profiles_information/index.php/Liberia:Index
While physical access to primary health care has improved dramatically across Liberia, from one health facility serving an average of 8000 population in 2006 to one health facility per 5500 population in 2009, it is still not nearly enough, and the existing resources of medications, supplies, and facilities can and do become overwhelmed when faced with new challenges.
3. Liberain public health response to the ebola crisis.
- http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/world/africa/ebola-response-in-liberi…
As international support came into the country at the outbreak of ebola, Liberian public health structures and political institutions were unable to cope with the new strains and were rendered ineffective. Meetings between liberian health officials and international organizations that were lauded to the public as being "effective" were consistantly bogged down in politics, resulting in the inefficient implimentation of programs and the poor distribution of despritely needed resources.
The film shows that health infrastructure is imperative in the treatment of patients and containment of an outbreak. Also, it is suggested that the government’s attempts to contain the spread of the disease were challenged in part by a lack of awareness and available information.