MONROVIA, Sept. 18 -- In 2014, when Ebola swept through Liberia, the country's health system was already struggling under the weight of years of conflict and limited resources. At the time, there were approximately 45 doctors in the public health system serving a population of nearly 4.5 million people.

By Patience M. Jones

For Dr. Maxo Luma, that reality offers one of the clearest lessons of Liberia's health crisis: an emergency may be unpredictable, but the vulnerability that allows it to become catastrophic is not.

"Ebola was the spark, but a weakened and under-resourced health system served as fuel," Dr. Luma said Thursday, as he delivered the keynote address at the 10th Annual General Scientific Meeting of the Liberia College of P...