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ANNA JONES: Now tomorrow at the G7 meeting in Bavaria, the Prime Minister will announce his response to the Ebola outbreak.  He wants to fund more research into infectious diseases and to set up a rapid reaction unit of medics who can fly to anywhere in the world to investigate reports of new infections. Well joining me now from Bavaria is Samantha Bolton who is a spokesperson for Medecins Sans Frontiers, a very good morning to you Samantha Bolton.  Given MSFs criticism of the global response to Ebola, do you welcome this move by the Prime Minister?  

SAMANTHA BOLTON: Yes, of course we welcome it.  I mean any extra effort to combat disease like Ebola and invest in research is important but obviously it would be helpful if it was also part of a global effort because at the moment what you’ve got is even in the US for example, CDC is trying to do their own thing and ultimately it is really important that countries take the lead but it needs to be also coordinated so that there is a global response which was the problem last time is that there wasn’t.  

AJ: Well yes, tell us a bit more about your reservations or your criticisms of the response to Ebola and how it could be improved.  Are any of the issues that you’ve raised being addressed here?

SAMANTHA BOLTON: Well basically what’s happening at the moment on a global level, if you can imagine that the World Health Organisation and the global way that we respond to epidemics is like a big hospital so what they’ve got is they have cut down and there is no ER, there is no emergency response so if you have got diabetes you can get something which is great and individually you can go and see your GP so to speak or your specialist, but there isn’t an immediate way of just going if you have a health emergency so that’s what everyone was calling for at the World Health Assembly, was to have a rapid reaction so that when you have an outbreak like this you can go in regardless of the politics, because obviously sometimes the countries, it’s difficult to declare an epidemic because people are afraid that the borders are going to be shut down, that it’s going to have an effect on trade, so there is always this imbalance.  Also for example on a global level, on an international level with these millennium goals, countries are rewarded with money from the World Bank and others if they reach these long term goals and so sometimes they say, oh if I declare an epidemic I might miss that goal.  So we need to somehow find a way of encouraging countries, it’s like a two track thing, you need to have your emergency response and you need to have your ongoing health system and that’s not happening at the moment.  

AJ: And David Cameron is talking about six to ten UK medics and epidemiologists, kind of disease detectives they’re being billed as, on permanent standby to fly out to trouble spots. To what extent does that answer that problem?

SAMANTHA BOLTON: Well it is really helpful if it actually happens but we know from experience that for every international person you deploy you need at least ten locals and so obviously it is the World Health Organisation’s job to coordinate with the countries to make sure that they ae also ready because if the UK sends some experts and they are not part of a bigger effort it is going to be difficult for them to work.  Also when they get there what are they doing?  Are they working advising the government or are they actually going to be treating patients?  For example this time round on Ebola when the US and British deployed military, none of them were prepared to treat anyone.  They had hospitals that were there in case foreigners got sick but there was no one actually doing the hands on work so that’s why MSF actually ended up treating one third of all the patients because there was no one who knew how to treat for example haemorrhagic diseases.  So yes, it’s welcome but in practice we have to see how it works.  

AJ: Samantha Bolton, very interesting to get your take on it.  Samantha Bolton there from Medecins Sans Frontiers in Bavaria, thank you.