Resources

Burials in times of Ebola: Do's and don'ts - issues of acceptability

This short guide was elaborated by the authors at the beginning of the Ebola Virus disease outbreak in May 2014 in Gueckedou base on a fieldwork in the area. It compiles the wishes collected from villages where people died from Ebola virus diseases.

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Lessons from the West Africa Ebola epidemic: A systematic review of epidemiological and social and behavioral science research priorities

This systematic literature review compared the epidemiological (EPI) research and the qualitative social and behavioral science (SBS) research published during the West Africa Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic. The findings support a program of action that situates data collection and analysis in real-time, recursive, integrated efforts to move community attitudes, behaviors, and responses into epidemiological research, and the paper offers recommendations to improve coordinated, multidisciplinary approaches to health emergencies.

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The politics of fear: Médecins Sans Frontières and the West African Ebola epidemic

This book provides a primary documentary resource for recounting and learning from the Ebola epidemic. Comprising eleven topic-based chapters and four eyewitness vignettes from both MSF- and non-MSF-affiliated contributors, it aims to provide a politically agnostic account of the defining health event of the 21st century so far to inform current opinions and future responses.

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New opportunities for field research on the pathogenesis and treatment of Lassa fever

This resource reviews the present literature on treatment and pathogenesis of Lassa fever and outlines priorities for future research in the field made possible by the improved research capacity of the Mano River Union countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea, Lassa fever network. 

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Engaging ‘communities’: Anthropological insights from the West African Ebola epidemic

This resource reflects on the nature of community engagement during the Ebola epidemic and demonstrates a disjuncture between local realities and what is being imagined in post-Ebola reports about the lessons that need to be learned for the future. It argues that to achieve stated aims of building trust and strengthening outbreak response and health systems, public health institutions need to reorientate their conceptualization of ‘the community’ and develop ways of working which take complex social and political relationships into account.

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