Shocker: WHO Totally Unprepared for Ebola Disaster

One year after the Ebola virus claimed thousands of lives in West Africa, a new investigation shows the U.N. World Health Organization may have been more a part of the problem than the solution.

It was just last summer, during the height of epidemic, that Sierra Leone's third largest city was in a frantic race to stop the deadly disease from spreading. But for those on the frontline facing down the killer virus, it was a struggle from the get go.
 
Joseph Fair, a disease expert with MRIGlobal, was advising the Sierra Leonean government during the Ebola crisis.

"There were particular incidents during the outbreak when we had an extreme shortage of, say, body bags or personal protective equipment," he recalled. "We had a number of bodies lying outside in the rain but no body bags."
 
And this was apparently just the tip of the iceberg.
 
An Associated Press investigation found that the WHO and other first responders were completely unprepared to deal with the unfolding health catastrophe.

Batches of chlorine desperately needed to fight off the virus had passed their expiration date.
 
One WHO consultant wrote to his bosses saying: "I was deeply shocked. The consequences of using it could be catastrophic and cause immediate infection of all the staff, contaminating them - and us - with the virus."

Health workers also lacked basic protective gear and had a difficult time getting essential medical supplies to care for the sick.
 
Newly obtained emails show WHO and other responders failed to organize a strong response even after the health alert was issued.
 
"Well, there is no question in my mind that the slowness in the response, the delay in the response, the disorganization in the response on the part of the WHO has some very dire consequences in terms of loss of lives lost that shouldn't have been," Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University, said.

As a result, Sierra Leone lost more health workers than any other country affected by the virus. And while the epidemic has waned in Liberia, cases continue to pop up in Sierra Leone and Guinea.
 
Meanwhile, clinical studies are underway to test a potential Ebola vaccine that could help contain the disease.

"One of the vaccine trials had shown very positive results," Ebola survivor Dr. Rick Sacra told CBN News.

"When someone gets sick with Ebola they are vaccinating their contacts, the people around the village," he explained. "And that's really helping to reduce the spread during this time."