West Africa’s Ebola Pandemic: Toward Effective Multilateral Responses to Health Crises

Abstract

The Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa in 2014 became the region's most dangerous pandemic in history. Initially misdiagnosed by health authorities in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, the epicenters of the crises, the wider health infrastructure of the international community similarly failed to grasp the enormity of the challenge posed by this pandemic to West Africa and its potential global ramifications. By the time recognition dawned about the immensity of the challenges that were posed by this pandemic, it took the introduction of extraordinary measures through the characterization of the disease as a threat to international peace and security pursuant to Chapter VII of the UN Charter to get the necessary institutional and bureaucratic machineries to intervene. This article argues that EVD, disastrous in its outcome, exposed the weaknesses and failures of existing institutional frameworks at national, regional, and continental to global levels. Focusing primarily on multilateral responses (the UN, the African Union [AU], and the Economic Community of West African States [ECOWAS]) to the epidemic, this article argues for enhanced global-regional collaboration in the context of the UN Charter's Chapter VIII for more effective future responses to health crises in West Africa. This article contributes to the ongoing debate on the reform of global health governance by analyzing the existing health governance strategies established by ECOWAS and implemented through the West African Health Organization.