Ebola in a stew of fear.

ing rebuilt. A new wave of land concessions have been granted to multinational corporations seeking to extract Liberia’s mineral and agricultural wealth. Yet investment in the country’s medical infrastructure languishes. Liberia has fewer than 200 doctors for a population of 4 million. It is poorly equipped to deal with the current public health crisis. Remembering this history can help us understand why the current Ebola epidemic — and the ecology of fear associated with it — is unfolding as it is. My dinner hosts on the Liberia– Guinea border knew of Ebola and its risks long before the disease made Western headlines. They were not ignorant. Their fears, like my own, were grounded in past experiences and present circumstances. But we shared more than fear. We also shared a common history, one that has bound the United States and Liberia since free blacks from America first settled on West African shores in the 1820s. And the laughter we shared that day, when a fearful white American asked the question, “Bush meat?” spoke to a recognition not of difference but of a shared humanity. In this moment of crisis, fears arising from difference and ignorance of the historical and cultural contexts that underlie mistrust create a toxic ecology in which the Ebola virus thrives and spreads. As of mid-September, total international pledges for Ebola aid amount to approximately $338 million.3 Personnel from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are now on the ground in Liberia. But international aid workers will need to engage many people in local communities to win this fight against Ebola. Unless aid workers and the media understand local fears, we may fail to stem the crisis, which is devastating the economy, health, and well-being of a nation with deep historical ties to the United States. Modern medicine owes a debt to West Africans for past sacrifices made in the advancement of global health. This week’s announcement by President Barack Obama of a U.S. commitment to build 17 Ebola treatment centers in Liberia, train medical workers, provide testing kits, and offer logistic support is a welcome and needed response. It should be the start of a long-term, concerted effort to strengthen the public health infrastructure, which is critical to the region’s future stability.