This topic is a major gap in current literature. We need to know more about how response infrastructures are organised, how decisions are made, and how people working in the response deal with the lived realities of trying to manage outbreaks in contexts where they do not necessarily have access to all the resources necessary. Organizational anthropology could be a very useful resource in this area. Research in this area could help us identify good practice and places where more support is needed.
Some relevant material on this topic was produced following the West African Ebola outbreak. These include an account of the Médecins Sans Frontières response in West Africa, and an auto-biographical account of the high-level government response to Ebola in Sierra Leone from the perspective of a diplomat and a medical doctor. Similar studies on Lassa fever would be very useful.
