The last sentence say it all:"By continuing to dismiss [Africans'] reasonable fears, we raise the risk of even more needless illness and death."

This article gives a fair analysis of the few in the medical/research profession that have been unethical, the reasonable fear among the African community, and the difficulties of providing healthcare to such an uneven ratio of medical health care workers to patients...especially under such unhygienic circumstances.

It shows a classic case of overhyped incidents, cynically exploited by local kleptocrats, aided by a well-meaning, credulous scribe.

The most important issue regarding how good an article is how it supports the headline. I believe this one does quite well. One question I would ask is how the news of all these incidents is diseminated? If the fear is based on a minority of cases that cause the fear, how do the majority of people hear about them?

A story without specific sources is less than useless. We have accusations regarding allegedly "Western" health care workers, but only one is identified by country of origin, and the names of the others are not typical European-sounding names. There is no link to the only medical journal article mentioned. "Several esteemed science journals" lists only one, with no link. There may be truth in what is said here, but there is not enough evidence to prove it.

Background on the very different world view of many Africans towards Western medicine, providing valuable context for the recent and shameful payoff of Libya for freeing six healthcare professionals. I'd have liked more sourcing, but the details are rich enough to justify a close reading and a heightened awareness of how much we don't know about Africa's view of the West and the world.

Well written opinion piece provides substantial information to support its premise.

Great story. I know of cases in Puerto Rico where women were sterilized or used by contraception researchers without their knowledge. This is the result of the colonial mentality.

This is an important perspective I have not previously read on the Libyan nurses story. Good examples, decent sourcing, definitely worth a read.

This is rather like blaming the kidnap victim for having a rich relative. Why not accuse local witch doctors of malpractice? Because they don't have government backers who are willing to use the coerced tax millions to pay off the kidnappers.

The very first thing that strikes me is the fact that of the health practitioner's mentioned, Ms Wahington only mentions one of them as being a 'Westerner' (the Scottish anesthesiologist). The rest of them very well could be native to the country where they committed their atrocities. If that is the case and the only commonality they have is the use of Westernized medicine instead of Oriental, they are murderers plain and simple and this story is one big, 'nevermind.'