No ebola vaccine ''because the virus previously only affected poor African nations'', WHO chief says

Speaking at the regional committee for Africa in Benin, Dr. Margaret Chan criticized drugs companies for turning their backs on "markets that cannot pay."

A vaccine to protect millions from the Ebola virus decades after it was first detected does not exist because the disease previously only affected poor African nations. Dr. Margaret Chan, while addressing the regional committee for Africa in Benin yesterday, said:

''Ebola emerged nearly four decades ago. Why are clinicians still empty handed, with no vaccines and no cure?

''Because Ebola has historically been confined to poor African nations.The R&D (research and development) incentive is virtually non-existent. A profit-driven industry does not invest in products for markets that cannot pay. WHO has been trying to make this issue visible for ages. Now people can see it for themselves.''

 She highlighted

''When heads of state in non-affected countries talk about Ebola, they rightly attribute the outbreak's unprecedented severity to the "failure to put basic public health infrastructures in place",' Dr Chan said. 

Culled from: Daily Mail