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Gates: Large Epidemics Need a More Agile Response
jones_supa writes: Writing in the NY Times about the recent Ebola crisis, Bill Gates says this disease has made the world realize we are not properly prepared to deal with a global epidemic. Even if we signed up lots of experts right away, few organizations are capable of moving thousands of people, some of them infected, to different locations on the globe, with a week's notice. Data is another crucial problem. During the Ebola epidemic, the database that tracks cases has not always been accurate. This is partly because the situation is chaotic, but also because much of the case reporting has been done first on paper.
There's also our failure to invest in effective medical tools like tests, drugs and vaccines. On average, it has taken an estimated one to three days for test results to come back — an eternity when you need to quarantine people. Drugs that might help stop Ebola were not tested in patients until after the epidemic had peaked, partly because the world has no clear process for expediting drug approvals. Compare all of this to the preparation that nations put into defense, which has high-quality mobile units ready to be deployed quickly.
There's also our failure to invest in effective medical tools like tests, drugs and vaccines. On average, it has taken an estimated one to three days for test results to come back — an eternity when you need to quarantine people. Drugs that might help stop Ebola were not tested in patients until after the epidemic had peaked, partly because the world has no clear process for expediting drug approvals. Compare all of this to the preparation that nations put into defense, which has high-quality mobile units ready to be deployed quickly.
Do you practice it?
We are a community of motherfucking clinicians who have been humiliated by pseudoscientific quackery for years. Do you know what they call alternative medicine that works? Medicine, Motherfucker.
We are tired of antivaxxers, homoeopaths, naturopaths, chiropractics, acupuncturists, faith healers, and anyone else getting in the way of Medicine, Motherfucker.
We are tired of being told we're money-grubbing idiots who need to be manipulated to work in a Allopathic Medicine chain gang without any time to explore the natural healing powers of measles and whooping cough because none of the 10 insurance companies that are responding to customer demand for acupuncture coverage can do... Medicine, Motherfucker.
We must destroy these methodologies that get in the way of...Medicine, Motherfucker.
They claim to value / They really value / We fucking do:
Individuals and interactions / Tons of billable hours / Medicine, Motherfucker
Removing toxins and chemicals / Tons of pointless tests / Medicine, Motherfucker
Health Freedom / Bleeding patients dry / Medicine, Motherfucker
Fighting the Establishment / Paranoia and conspiracy theory / Medicine, Motherfucker
We think the shit on the left, is really just the con in the middle, and that we really need to just do the thing on the right... Medicine, Motherfucker.
Signed,
Anon. C. Owhard.
And the Medicinal Motherfuckers.