Ebola fighters named Time's Person of the Year 2014

Smarter heads at Time Magazine prevailed and the editors did not pick Taylor Swift as their Person of the year for 2014. Instead, they decided to honor the brave men and women who have fought against the Ebola virus in West Africa.

While there have been Ebola outbreaks in the past, none have made as much of a global impact as this one. Thanks to modern technology and transportation, Ebola reached Europe and the U.S. for the first time ever. Doctors and nurses who flew to West Africa have come down with the virus themselves.

According to the CDC, there have been 6,331 deaths in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since the outbreak began.

“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,” Time editor Nancy Gibbs wrote. “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 defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving, the Ebola fighters are TIME’s 2014 Person of the Year.”

Time’s Person of the Year shortlist included Swift, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Ferguson protesters and Masourd Barzani.


image via Twitter from TIME

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