Neo-liberal Health Reforms and the Failure of Healthcare in Sierra Leone: The Case of the Ebola Crisis

Abstract

The ongoing Ebola crisis in Sierra Leone illustrates the ways in which the security/development discourse that has emerged over the past two decades remains largely embedded in orthodox theoretical assumptions that have been shaped by a blend of realist and neo-liberal theories. As we will show, the logical outcome of this orthodox security/development discourse is that it leads to a militarisation of what is in reality a complex social problem. The neo-liberal policies adopted by governments has served to heighten these social problems and in so doing have created the social conditions for the generation of the Ebola Virus to emerge.