The Other Deaths We Have Forgotten In The Ebola Affected Countries Ebola has not only killed thousands in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone; it has brought in its wake sadness in every form. Whie the rest of the world is bracing itself for Christmas to be followed by the usual Watch Night services to usher in 2015, the people in the Ebola affected countries will not be enjoying like the rest of us. The President of the Pontifical Council on Peace and Justice, Peter Cardinal Appiah-Turkson told the media last week that, religious bodies and the government in Sierra Leone have agreed to hold gatherings with very little human touch up to 5.00 pm on December 31. For a country that is renowned for holding parties, this year is indeed, one that they would not wish to revisit in their history. Only God knows how the people in the other countries would be celebrating their Christmas and New Year! It is not the fun side that is worrying for these countries. Within the past ten months or so, after the Ebola Disease was diagnosed in Guinea and later in the other worst affected countries, the world seems to have concentrated on the reports of people dying from Ebola alone. Cardinal Appiah-Turkson, lamented the neglect of the other diseases and expressed worry that thousands have been left to die from the traditional diseases of malaria, poor maternal and paediatric care in these countries because, health facilities have broken down. Sadly, no one has thought about the fact that even with Ebola spreading, other disease may also be killing people. Thankfully, the Catholic Church and other partners have decided to refurbish the broken down health facilities. Cardinal Appiah-Turkson says the Catholic Church is providing Three Million Euros to start the programme of rebuilding the health facilities. In addition, it is putting in place other initiatives that would fight stigmatisation and provide centres for orphaned children. Good news, but, whatever the Catholic Church is providing is very small so it means that the international community would have to find a way of contributing more to help save the thousands who should not die. What is worrying is the indictment of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for contributing largely to the spread of the Ebola disease in the three countries. Though the IMF has denied it, the report, comes to support widespread accusations that the IMF is always calling for spending cuts in developing countries. This must be of concern to world leaders. In dealing with the rebuilding of the three countries, it is clear that their economies have been devastated so, it means that employment and revenue generation would be low. Building a proper healthcare system that would take care of Ebola and the traditional diseases demands that, the IMF take a new approach if the people in the three countries are to be saved. The IMF was also accused in the study that it imposed programmes that placed a cap on wage bills, consequently, the countries could not hire heath staff and pay them adequately. In addition, the Fund’s emphasis on decentralised healthcare systems had also been condemned as it made it difficult to mobilise a co-ordinated response to health emergencies such as the Ebola virus outbreak. An IMF spokesman’s response to the charges that "such claims are based on a misunderstanding, and, in some cases, a misrepresentation, of IMF policies," is not enough because most African countries have experienced similar cuts. Presently, Ghanaian school children are suffering from lack of teachers because the IMF has imposed a cap on the number of teachers that must be employed. It is only God that can tell how much their policies have affected our healthy delivery system. The experiences of the three countries should guide the IMF to improve its policies by putting more emphasis on preventing human suffering rather than balancing budgets. At the end of the day, what use is it to balance the books if it would lead to more people dying in the process. By: Francis Kokutse, a Journalist