Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award 2015

The 2015 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award went to Doctors Without Borders for their courageous work in combating the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014. Courageous is actually an understatement.

According to Jason Cone, executive director at Doctors Without Borders, Doctors Without Borders treated 33 percent of all affected Ebola patients. In doing so they put themselves in the way of great harm.

Doctors Without Borders was on the in Liberia and Sierra Leone in March 2014 when the realized they were facing an Ebola outbreak. They were there by themselves when the World Health Organization denied the severity of the crisis. They were in the trenches alone with little to no help from international agencies.

They were there working without a vaccine for the virus, no diagnostic tools, and makeshift medical facilities. The response by the international community was horrible which allowed Ebola to spread further than is should have.

Doctors Without Borders was in Africa helping when others wouldn’t. They sent in their experts and worked with their minimal resources at best as they could.

They brought in supplies such as chlorine for decontaminating materials exposed to the virus and protective gear that keeps nurses and doctors safe. They identified and isolated infected people in makeshift isolation hospitals.

The situation was so dire, for the first time Doctors Without Borders had to build a crematorium to help stop the disease from spreading.

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