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This brief summarises key considerations about the social, political and economic context shaping the outbreak of Ebola in the N’Zérékoré prefecture, Guinea, as of March 2021. The outbreak was declared on 14 February 2021, two weeks after the death of the first known case, a health agent (Agent Technique de Santé) from Gouécké. Gouécké is… Read more
SSHAP convened a virtual roundtable of expert advisors on Friday 12 March 2021 to discuss the outbreak of Ebola in Guinea declared on 14 February 2021. At the time of writing (19 March 2021), there have been 18 cases (14 confirmed, 4 probable), 9 deaths (including 5 in the community; CFR 50%) and 6 recoveries…. Read more
Refugee schools in West Africa tend to be dominated by men, with even early years classes taught mostly by male teachers. There are very few female teachers and even fewer female head teachers or education administrators. Although enrollment in the lower classes is more or less gender balanced, by the upper primary level, many of… Read more
The current Ebola outbreak is concentrated in Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea: countries with limited state capacity which are recovering from political instability and conflict. The indirect consequences of the Ebola epidemic and its disruption of public and private services threaten the lives and livelihoods of more than 22 million people in Ebola-affected areas. As… Read more
This correspondence from the WHO Ebola Response Team focuses on the West African ebola epidemic after one year. It explains how the uneven success of ebola control measures to date, in the face of shifting geographic patterns of transmission, illustrates the continuing threat posed by the Ebola virus 1 year after the start of the epidemic. A total… Read more
This helpdesk focuses on the impact of traditional healers, witch doctors and burial attendants on ebola in West Africa. It seeks to establish if there is a difference between witch doctors, herbalists and traditional healers in terms of when people see them and the kind of treatment they provide. It goes on to explore the… Read more
There is general agreement that the Ebola crisis was not quickly contained in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone because their national health systems were dangerously under-resourced, understaffed and poorly equipped. A Wake-up Call argues that we must learn the lessons of this crisis not just for the three countries but for the many other developing countries… Read more
Containment strategies for Ebola rupture fundamental features of social, political and religious life. Control efforts that involve local people and appreciate their perspectives, social structures and institutions are therefore vital. Unfortunately such approaches have not been widespread in West Africa where response strategies have been predominantly top-down. Authoritarian tactics have had questionable effect, potentially worsening… Read more
The international response to Ebola has been decried for being ‘too slow, too little, too late’. As well as racing to respond, we need to consider what has happened over the past decades to leave exposed fault lines that enabled Ebola to move so rapidly across boundaries of people’s bodies, villages, towns and countries. Gender… Read more
Ebola has had significant, negative effects in the rapidly expanding, unregulated areas of peri-urban and urban West Africa. The residents of these areas maintain vital connections with rural populations while intermingling with and living in close proximity to urban and elite populations. These interconnections fuel the spread of Ebola. The degradation of natural resources, temporary… Read more
The economic effects of the Ebola health crisis are slowly unfolding as the virus continues to affect Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The most important sector is mining as these three countries share a rich iron ore geological beltway. The macroeconomic impacts of the crisis came into sharp focus when London Mining, Sierra Leone’s second… Read more