The World Bank President Jim Yong Kim declared the world's response to the current Ebola outbreak as “disastrously inadequate”. Till now, more than 4,000 cases have been reported and 2,000 have been dead; the actual figures could be much higher. This feature discusses what is Ebola, and why WHO is failing to build an adequate response to the epidemic. It also addresses the question why public health systems and pharmaceutical companies are failing in providing vaccines and cures for diseases such as Ebola that primarily affect the poor.