Ernest Bai Koroma's rise to power in 2007 was supported by the U.S., Britain, and several international multinational corporations who supported a national agenda that enacted tax incentives, reforms, and other policies that favored Western investments in petroleum, diamonds, iron ore, and other industries.

This decades-long investment in private sector development, such as mining and large-scale agriculture, deprioritized investment in the country's health infrastructure, which limits Sierra Leone's ability to intervene in the spread of Ebola.