IMF policies criticised over ebola outbreaks

Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to under-funded, insufficiently staffed, and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with ebola outbreaks in west Africa, academics said yesterday.

Researchers from Cambridge University’s department of sociology, joined by colleagues from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, examined links between the IMF and the rapid spread of the disease.

They said IMF programmes over the years have imposed heavy constraints on the development of effective health systems in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone the cradle of the ebola outbreak that has killed more than 6,800 since March.