Foday Gallah saw the sick child was distressed and felt he had to do something . So he picked the kid up to comfort him . And with that act of kindness , the 37-year-old ambulance supervisor in Monrovia , Liberia , contracted Ebola himself . `` Of course , he got vomit all over him and that 's how he got Ebola , '' said photographer Jackie Nickerson , who shot Gallah 's image for Time 's `` Person of the Year '' magazine cover , which honors those on the front line of the Ebola epidemic . They 're `` the ones who answered the call , '' the magazine said on its website Wednesday morning . Nickerson expanded on why Gallah was chosen for one of the magazine 's five covers : `` He 's the shining example of what the right thing to do is . He 's a shining example that we should all try to follow . He really did touch me with his story . I do n't usually like to use the word hero , but I have to use it here . '' According to the latest World Health Organization figures , about 6,300 people have died from the disease , mainly in West Africa . Health workers are still battling more than 11,000 confirmed cases in Guinea , Liberia and Sierra Leone , and more than 6,000 suspected and probable cases loom , according to WHO . Though those countries mark the epicenter of the outbreak , isolated cases have spread wider , penetrating other African countries , Europe and even the United States . Time magazine 's editors decided to honor the `` unprecedented numbers '' of doctors and nurses who responded when Ebola overtook an already-weak public health infrastructure , and Time Editor Nancy Gibbs outlined how governments were ill-equipped to respond , WHO `` was in denial and snarled in red tape '' and first responders were accused of crying wolf as the disease spread . Yet many doctors and nurses , especially those from Doctors Without Borders and Samaritan 's Purse , responded and worked alongside local physicians , nurses , ambulance drivers and burial teams , Gibbs wrote . Some were driven by God , while others did it for country and some simply had `` the instinct to run into the fire , not away , '' she wrote . `` Ebola is a war , and a warning . The global health system is nowhere close to strong enough to keep us safe from infectious disease , and 'us ' means everyone , not just those in faraway places where this is one threat among many that claim lives every day , '' wrote Gibbs . She continued , `` The rest of the world can sleep at night because a group of men and women are willing to stand and fight . For tireless acts of courage and mercy , for buying the world time to boost its defenses , for risking , for persisting , for sacrificing and saving , the Ebola fighters are Time 's 2014 Person of the Year . '' In addition to Gallah , the ambulance driver , Time highlighted on its cover four other Ebola fighters who worked on the ground in West Africa : . -- Dr. Jerry Brown is a Liberian surgeon who converted his hospital 's chapel into one of the country 's first treatment centers . The center 's reception area , where Brown gets dressed , is a bare room , lit by a single bulb , Nickerson , the photographer , said . -- Salome Karwah is an Ebola survivor who lost both parents to the disease and undertook the task of counseling patients in Liberia . Nickerson recalled how the Doctors Without Borders caregiver appeared to be a typical young woman , dressed nicely and a little nervous about being photographed . `` But then , she put on her scrubs . ... She became very calm , a little bit introverted , '' the photographer said . -- Ella Watson-Stryker is a Doctors Without Borders health promoter who has been in West Africa since March . The American was uneasy during the 10 minutes it took to shoot her photo , Nickerson said . `` She was distracted , she wanted to do other things . '' -- Dr. Kent Brantly became the first American infected while running a treatment center in Monrovia . Because he is a religious man , Time shot him at his church in Fort Worth , Texas . `` Kent was working in West Africa doing a lot of hard , selfless work to help people out , '' photographer Bryan Schutmaat said . Among the others considered for `` Person of the Year '' honors were Russian President Vladimir Putin , NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the protesters in Ferguson , Missouri . Other finalists included singer Taylor Swift , Chinese Internet tycoon Jack Ma , Apple CEO Tim Cook and Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani . Pope Francis received the title in 2013 . The magazine 's readers voted for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to receive the title , but the Time editors ' decision is based on their view of `` the person or persons who most affected the news and our lives , for good or ill , and embodied what was important about the year . ''
Time names those on front lines of Ebola outbreak as the ` ` Person of the Year '' Other possibilities were Ferguson Ferguson , Vladimir Putin and John Waters . Taylor Swift , Jack White , Tim Cook and Joe Barzani were also in the list .