In the challenging environment created by the rapid, destructive spread of Ebola in 2014, a variety of big data techniques were applied to monitor, predict and interpret Ebola hotspots and transmission characteristics. Dataconomy, in this article, explores the various applications of big data to global healthcare challenges including Ebola and sepsis, and identifies Flowminder as providing a precise, wide-scale overview of mobility characteristics in Ebola-affected regions.