International Monetary Fund policies have left healthcare systems in the African countries most affected by Ebola underfunded and lacking doctors, and have hampered a coordinated response to the outbreak, researchers said on Monday.

Links between the IMF and the rapid spread of the disease were examined by researchers from Cambridge University's sociology department, with colleagues from Oxford University and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

They found that IMF programs held back the development of effective health systems in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, the three countries at the epicenter of the outbreak that has killed over 7,370 people.

Reforms advocated by the IMF hampered the ability of the health systems to cope with infectious disease outbreaks and other emergencies, the researchers found.

"A major reason why the Ebola outbreak spread so rapidly was the weakness of healthcare systems in the region, and it would be unfortunate if underlying causes were overlooked," said Cambridge sociologist and lead study author Alexander Kentikelenis.

"Policies advocated by the IMF have contributed to underfunded, insufficiently staffed and poorly prepared health systems in the countries with Ebola outbreaks."

The researchers examined policies enforced by the IMF before the outbreak, using information from IMF lending programs from 1990 to 2014, and analyzed their effects on Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

They found the healthcare systems were weakened by the IMF's requirement of economic reforms that cut government spending, a requirement of caps on the public sector wage bill and a policy of decentralized healthcare systems.

On the requirement to reduce government spending, researchers found that "such policies have been extremely strict, absorbing funds that could be directed to meeting pressing health challenges".

"In 2013, just before the Ebola outbreak, the three countries met the IMF's economic directives, yet all failed to raise their social spending despite pressing health needs," said Cambridge sociologist and study co-author Lawrence King.

(China Daily 12/23/2014 page11)