World Health Organization fails to meet its goals in fighting Ebola. Yahoo/AP

Health workers disinfecting a body in Liberia. Yahoo/AP.

The World Health Organization has failed to meet its goals for containing the spread of the Ebola virus in Africa. Yahoo/AP. Their goal was to isolate 70% of cases and to safely bury 70% of dead bodies by December 1st. In Guinea, they are on track to meet their goal, but they are not even close in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Liberia only has 23% of cases isolated and 26% of burial teams are up and running while Sierra Leone has 40% of cases isolated and 27% of burial teams active. The spread of Ebola has lessened in recent weeks in Liberia and Guinea but in Sierra Leone the disease is still out of control, especially near the capital and in a border district as well. The WHO's next goal is 100% isolation by January 1st. 

My Comment:

The original goal was completely unrealistic in the first place and did not account for the diseases spread to Mali. If the international community had taken the disease more seriously months ago it would have been achievable. But with so many sick it is already too late. The disease seems to be slowing down in Guinea and Liberia but as long as the infection rate is greater then one, the disease will continue to spread. 

There are, of course, reasons why the disease is doing so well in Sierra Leone. Chief among them is the traditional burial practices that people are still doing. That accounts for many of the new cases and it is amazing to me that people are still doing it. They also don't have enough burial teams, and the ones they do have are overworked and underpaid. And too many of them are men, which causes problems with Sierra Leone's traditional burials that require women to be buried by women. 

So will the disease be contained anytime soon? It seems fairly unlikely. The news out of Liberia and Guinea are encouraging, but the news from Mali and especially Sierra Leone are concerning. With the disease out of control in  Sierra Leone it seems possible that they could reinfect old areas that have had success in fighting the disease. Also, if you look at the raw numbers, it seems clear that Liberia still has a problem with Ebola. They are still seeing many new cases a week, which is reason for concern. I doubt the WHO will meet their January 1st goal, but hopefully the disease will be contained at some point.