--- title: Report: WHO Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak description: A new report reveals the World Health Organization privately acknowledged it could have done more to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak. canonical: https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/ author: Alex Rogers article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-17T14:30:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:05:29.011Z article:section: Health og:title: Report: WHO Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak og:description: A new report reveals the World Health Organization privately acknowledged it could have done more to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak. og:url: https://time.com/3516785/ebola-who-outbreak/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba6b38194084ba9/698761452dce01002b9dafdd/ebola-liberia-world-health-organization.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Report: WHO Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak twitter:description: A new report reveals the World Health Organization privately acknowledged it could have done more to contain the ongoing Ebola outbreak. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8ba6b38194084ba9/698761452dce01002b9dafdd/ebola-liberia-world-health-organization.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # WHO Acknowledges Flubbed Response to Ebola Outbreak > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=387ca88c-d5a6-47be-a66c-6fbbfa10626f&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola [Watch (HLS stream): Contact Tracing: How To Trace The Spread of Ebola](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/EJ3m56cA.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-10-02. Health officials in the US are using a method known as contact tracing, to see who is at risk from Ebola._ by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 17, 2014 2:30 PM UTC  A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. A World Health Organization (WHO), instructor teaches new health workers during a training session on Oct. 3, 2014 in Monrovia, Liberia. John Moore—Getty Images by [Alex Rogers](https://time.com/author/alex-rogers/) ## Alex Rogers Oct 17, 2014 2:30 PM UTC A new report reveals that the World Health Organization [privately acknowledged](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6fd22fbcca0c47318cb178596d57dc7a/un-we-botched-response-ebola-outbreak) it could have done more to contain the ongoing global Ebola outbreak, which has claimed the lives of around 4,500 people primarily in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. “Nearly everyone involved in the outbreak response failed to see some fairly plain writing on the wall,” WHO said in a “draft internal document” obtained by the Associated Press. The WHO, the United Nations health agency, blamed in part the “politically motivated appointments” of Dr. Luis Sambo, the WHO regional director in Africa, according to the AP. WHO also points fingers at its Guinea office for failing to obtain visas for Ebola experts and for tying up $500,000 in aid in red tape. WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan did not fully understand the agency’s leadership issues in West Africa until days after a June meeting of the agency’s top outbreak officials, according to the documents. “This (was) the first news of this sort to reach her,” reads one of the forms. “She is shocked.” \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/6fd22fbcca0c47318cb178596d57dc7a/un-we-botched-response-ebola-outbreak)\] ## Transcript Now that the first case of Ebola has been diagnosed on American soil, what's next? How can we keep the virus from spreading? Health officials are now turning to a process known as contact tracing to figure out who else might have been exposed to the virus. The likeliest candidates are the medical technicians who treated him. That's because Ebola is spread by direct contact with bodily fluids, which health workers could have come in contact with while treating the patient. Beyond that are the patient's family members or people who have been living in close quarters with him since he developed the symptoms, including fever. Vomiting or diarrhea. These people will be monitored for 21 days, which is the incubation period of Ebola, to see if they develop similar symptoms. They won't be quarantined, but they might be asked to avoid traveling out of the country and spending time in crowded public areas. If anyone in either of these rings appears infected. Health officials will extend their monitoring to include anyone those people have been in contact with. Including their family members, school classmates, or work colleagues, until no more Ebola symptoms are discovered. Beyond that, if people in this ring appear infected, they too would be monitored for symptoms for 21 days, and the analysis would spread to their contacts. The passengers on the patient's flights from Liberia to the US aren't considered at high risk of exposure, since he was not experiencing symptoms then. Of course, all of this depends on honest and accurate information from the patient and his contacts about where they have been and with whom. Something that has been an issue in West Africa. There the stigma against Ebola has led patients to flee health volunteers who are attempting to trace contacts or fail to report people they have interacted with. 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