This isn't the first some something like that has happened. WHO has had problems with their health initiatives in pretty much all parts of the world at some point. The locals hear about a problem, don't really know much about it, but are used to their governments lying to them and actively trying to make every issue into some political crusade to justify their governments power. They see people who are claiming to be there to deal with the problem, are suspicious because every other "official" they've encountered was probably corrupt and looking to get something out of them...and mis-apply the notion to anyone working in any official capacity. That is not a justification for their actions in this case. Killing people because you suspect that they are up to no good is uncivilized and totally socially untenable. I'm just saying this is not localized to Africa, nor is it specific to this specific outbreak. Haitians suspected relief workers were up to no good after the earthquake in 2010, and tried to impede their progress and even shot at them. Hell, locals shooting at fire department personal when trying to put out fires is actually surprisingly common even in the United States. So don''t look at this as proof that Africa is barbaric. As Mike noted, Africa is not even a cohesive organization nor social structure. It's just a continent. This is a sad case of misidenfication and stupidity on the assailant's part. I don't think there is any need for racial or ethnic connotation here. It's just a sad story about people trying to help an afflicted region being murdered by morons..