Dive Brief:
- The deadliest Ebola outbreak in history is forcing American universities to reconsider study abroad programs in West Africa.
- So far, the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign’s fall semester program in Sierra Leone and New York University’s fall program in Ghana have been postponed, USA Today reported.
- Harvard University is encouraging students, faculty, and staff who recently traveled to West Africa to call the school’s health services within three days of leaving any country with reported cases, prior returning to campus.
Dive Insight:
Stepping up vigilance about traveling to West Africa only makes sense, especially considering the July 31 directive from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warning against non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. More than 1,700 cases of Ebola have been reported in those countries, where the virus has killed more than 960 people. Ebola isn’t the only crisis affecting international travel, of course: USA Today reports that New York University has also shut down its Tel Aviv programming because of the Gaza warfare.
