The countless doctors, nurses and caregivers at the forefront of battling one of the worst ever outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus, were today collectively named as Time magazine’s 2014 ‘Person of the Year’.
The ‘Ebola fighters’ have been awarded for their “tireless acts of courage and mercy” and for “risking, persisting, sacrificing and saving”.
Time’s editors unveiled the winner of the annual honour selecting the Ebola fighters from an initial list of 50 world leaders, business heads and record-breaking artists that was narrowed down to a shortlist of eight this week.
“Ebola is a war, and a warning. The global health system is nowhere close to strong enough to keep us safe from infectious disease, and ‘us’ means everyone, not just those in faraway places where this is one threat among many that claim lives every day. “The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight. For tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defences, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are Time’s 2014 Person of the Year,” Editor Nancy Gibbs said explaining the publication’s reasoning behind the choice.