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I am having a hard time understanding why people keep saying that donations are the way to go to solve this issue. From what I have seen, many rural communities

I am having a hard time understanding why people keep saying that donations are the way to go to solve this issue. From what I have seen, many rural communities are rejecting and acting against foreign assistance. I am not sure of the circumstances in urban settings, but I read that they are just as superstitious. How can we help those that do not want our help, especially when it is deadly to help either because of the disease or fear of attack?

Gustomaximus 12y ago
This is a reason to donate. These rural areas clearly lack education, knowledge and need help. Just because they are scared/ignorant today doesn't mean they always have to be. For example if radios were distributed to all these communities education programs could start about ways to avoid disease transmission etc. This is going to be a long term strategy and wont happen in a day.
arrrg 12y ago
To be honest, I’m not sure how effective these targeted donations are at all. My point was more that in this case, while scary (and probably unrealistic) scenarios of the West somehow being affected were a popular pastime (and seemingly the main frame to view this disaster), hardly anyone seems to actually care about those who are affected by it. (I personally don’t think, for example, that I know better than a charity how to best allocate resources and I think targeted donations tied to a specific cause are quite irresponsible.) Also, there may have been unique complications that make fighting the spread harder, though we don’t really know how widespread those are and were. They make for good stories, but are they the whole picture? I very much doubt that. Additionally, it seems to me that even if those troubles were widespread it was possible to a) do something against them with more money (mostly in terms of improving communication about the virus) and b) make up for other deficiencies in resources (like a lack of space and beds and personal).

Gustomaximus 12y ago

This is a reason to donate. These rural areas clearly lack education, knowledge and need help. Just because they are scared/ignorant today doesn't mean they always have to be. For example if radios were distributed to all these communities education programs could start about ways to avoid disease transmission etc. This is going to be a long term strategy and wont happen in a day.

arrrg 12y ago

To be honest, I’m not sure how effective these targeted donations are at all. My point was more that in this case, while scary (and probably unrealistic) scenarios of the West somehow being affected were a popular pastime (and seemingly the main frame to view this disaster), hardly anyone seems to actually care about those who are affected by it. (I personally don’t think, for example, that I know better than a charity how to best allocate resources and I think targeted donations tied to a specific cause are quite irresponsible.) Also, there may have been unique complications that make fighting the spread harder, though we don’t really know how widespread those are and were. They make for good stories, but are they the whole picture? I very much doubt that. Additionally, it seems to me that even if those troubles were widespread it was possible to a) do something against them with more money (mostly in terms of improving communication about the virus) and b) make up for other deficiencies in resources (like a lack of space and beds and personal).