Ebola : how a people's science helped end an epidemic / Paul Richards.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Richards, Paul, 1945 May 14- author.

Series:

African arguments

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Ebola virus disease--Africa.

Ebola virus disease.

Ebola virus disease--Africa--Prevention--International cooperation.

Humanitarian assistance.

Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola--epidemiology.

Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola--prevention & control.

Epidemics--prevention & control.

Burial.

Risk Factors.

International Cooperation.

International cooperation.

Africa, Western--epidemiology.

Africa.

Medical Subjects:

Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola--epidemiology.

Hemorrhagic Fever, Ebola--prevention & control.

Epidemics--prevention & control.

Burial.

Risk Factors.

International Cooperation.

Africa, Western--epidemiology.

Physical Description:

xii, 180 pages : illustrations, maps ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

London : Zed Books : In association with International African Institute Royal African Society World Peace Foundation, [2016]

Summary:

In 2013, the largest Ebola outbreak in history swept across West Africa, claiming thousands of lives in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea and sending the international community into panic. By 2014, experts were grimly predicting that millions would be infected within months, and a huge international control effort was mounted to contain the virus. Yet paradoxically, at this point the disease was already going into decline in Africa itself. Why did outside observers get it so wrong? Paul Richards draws on his extensive firsthand experience in Sierra Leone to argue that the international community's alarmed response failed to take account of local expertise and common sense. Crucially, Richards shows that the humanitarian response to the disease was most effective in those areas where it supported community initiatives already in place, such as giving local people agency in terms of disposing of bodies. In turn, the international response dangerously hampered recovery when it ignored or disregarded local knowledge.

Contents:

Introduction

The world's first Ebola epidemic

The epidemic's rise and decline

Washing the dead : does culture spread Ebola?

Ebola in rural Sierra Leone : a technography

Burial technique

Community responses to Ebola

Conclusion : strengthening an African people's science

Postscript

Appendices : evidence and testimony from Ebola-affected community members.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 160-173) and index.

ISBN:

1783608595

9781783608591

1783608587

9781783608584

OCLC:

945390731