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When the field is a ward or a clinic: Hospital ethnography

This resource attempts to demonstrate the value of deeply embedded hospital ethnography as a means to offer a new level of data with which to synthesise critical medical anthropology. The author uses this collection to showcase how hospital-based ethnographic work offers a collaborative approach in which the ethnographer, of necessity, must take into account a broader range of experiences in hospital encounters.

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The process and practice of diagnosis: Innovations in diagnostics for Lassa fever in Sierra Leone

Chapter 5 of Annie Wilkinson’s PhD thesis, provides a detailed description of health seeking behaviours for Lassa Fever in rural Sierra Leone. In this context, people interpreted and managed Lassa Fever in light of their familiarity with a wide range of other diseases, some of which were viewed as dangerous and others less so; in contexts where sickness, health and treatment were marked by uncertainty; and where hospitals were not necessarily perceived to be sites of good care.  An important insight is that people differentiated ‘big sick’ or ‘hospital sick’ from an ordinary or ‘small’ sick and it was partly on the basis of this distinction that people would choose to access care.

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Healthcare providers on the frontlines: A qualitative investigation of the social and emotional impact of delivering health services during Sierra Leone’s Ebola epidemic

This paper describes the stigma experienced by health care workers during the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, and recommends psychological support mechanisms for medical staff working in epidemic contexts.

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Hospital domestics: Care work in a Kenyan hospital

Though not about Lassa fever specifically, this paper explores the division of labour between medical staff and familial caregivers in Kenya.

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Perceptions of burden of caregiving by informal caregivers of cancer patients attending University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria

Though not about Lassa fever specifically, this study shows the burden experienced by informal caregivers of cancer patients in Nigeria. Most caregivers experienced this burden as moderate or severe.

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Patients’ and healthcare providers’ perceptions and practices regarding hypertension, pharmacy-based care, and mHealth in Lagos, Nigeria

Although not focused on Lassa Fever, a recent publication on hypertension in Nigeria, provides a comprehensive review of contemporary health seeking behaviour in the country, underlining the important role that small-scale local pharmaceutical providers provide as the front line of medical care.  This study also describes what respondents call a ‘Nigerian Factor’; a reluctance to seek health care until very sick.

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Lassa fever: The politics of an emerging disease and the scope for One Health

As a rodent borne virus, Lassa fever is of particular interest from a One Health perspective. The interplay between security, public health and One Health approaches are explored through ethnographic and interview based research in Kenema, Sierra Leone, a long-term treatment and research hub. ‘Biodefence dollars’ have provided the majority of recent funding in Sierra Leone and have created opportunities for both local and international actors to address a neglected disease.

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Participation of women and children in hunting activities in Sierra Leone and implications for control of zoonotic infections

This paper underscores the challenges of interventions, surveillance, research and sensitization campaigns. To address such complexity, intervention strategies should become more diversified and context-specific. In particular the role of children should be recognised; specific intervention strategies should be tailored to children's specific hunting practices.

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Rat-Atouille: A mixed method study to characterize rodent hunting and consumption in the context of Lassa fever

This paper investigated the consumption of rodents, including the reservoir species of Lassa fever, and found this is widespread and does not neatly tally against generational or gender lines. Further, it found that the reasons for rodent consumption are multifactorial, including taste preferences, food security, and opportunistic behaviour.

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Hunting of peridomestic rodents and consumption of their meat as possible risk factors for rodent-to-human transmission of Lassa virus in the Republic of Guinea

This study comparing two regions in Guinea, Pita and Gueckedou, observed three major risks for Lassa virus transmission: rodent infestation, uncovered food and hunting of peridomestic rodents as protein source. Hunting and preparation of rodents was identify as a specific risk, however more research is needed to ascertain the age and sex-specific risk factors, sociocultural and economical leading to rodent consumption.

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