Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly disagrees with blanket forced quarantine for health care workers returning from Ebola affected countries. Such a measure is not based upon established medical science.
Kaci Hickox has carried out important, lifesaving work for MSF in a number of countries in recent years, and we are proud to have her as a member of our organization. MSF respects Kaci’s right as a private citizen to challenge excessive restrictions being placed upon her.
MSF supports and implements scientifically grounded monitoring measures for all returned aid workers. This is in accordance with the recommendations of public health experts.
Since the beginning of MSF’s response to the outbreak in West Africa in March, the organization has been actively engaged with health authorities in the United States and abroad to develop and improve appropriate and effective monitoring measures to protect aid workers and public health.
Quarantine will only undermine efforts to curb the epidemic at its source in West Africa, as MSF announced on October 27.
Since the beginning of the outbreak, MSF has admitted more than 4,900 patients to its Ebola treatment centers in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, where MSF currently employs 270 international staff members and more than 3,000 locally hired staff.
