A major challenge to outbreak control lies in early detection of viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) in local community contexts during the critical initial stages of an epidemic, when risk of spreading is its highest (“the first mile”). In this paper we document how a major Ebola outbreak control effort in central Uganda in 2012 was […]
Engagement and communication
Understanding the perspectives and priorities of different groups vulnerable to and/or responding to epidemics and how to support dialogue-based response strategies.
57 documents
Evidence-Based Engagement of the Somali Pastoralists of the Horn of Africa in Polio Immunization: Overview of Tracking, Cross-Border, Operations, and Communication Strategies
Building on the experience of the 2013-2014 wild poliovirus outbreak in the Horn of Africa, this study examines applied strategies that helped to engage pastoralists of the Somali cluster (Somalia, Somali Region of Ethiopia, and North-East Kenya) in supplementary immunization activities. Aimed at being applicable to other public health interventions, the study synthesizes knowledge about Somali pastoralism in […]
Understanding Social Resistance to the Ebola Response in the Forest Region of the Republic of Guinea: An Anthropological Perspective
Why did Ebola response initiatives in the Upper Guinea Forest Region regularly encounter resistance, occasionally violent? Extending existing explanations concerning local and humanitarian “culture” and “structural violence,” and drawing on previous anthropological fieldwork and historical and documentary research, this article argues that Ebola disrupted four intersecting but precarious social accommodations that had hitherto enabled radically […]
Perceptions of Health Communication, Water Treatment and Sanitation in Artibonite Department, Haiti, March-April 2012
The international response to Haiti’s ongoing cholera outbreak has been multifaceted, including health education efforts by community health workers and the distribution of free water treatment products. Artibonite Department was the first region affected by the outbreak. Numerous organizations have been involved in cholera response efforts in Haiti with many focusing on efforts to improve […]
Culture and Health
Planned and unplanned migrations, diverse social practices, and emerging disease vectors transform how health and wellbeing are understood and negotiated. Simultaneously, familiar illnesses-both communicable and non-communicable-continue to affect individual health and household, community, and state economies. Together, these forces shape medical knowledge and how it is understood, how it comes to be valued, and when […]
Community Perception and Beliefs About Blood Draw for Clinical Research in Ghana
Clinical research participants often express concerns about blood draw because of misconceptions about the uses to which the blood will be put. Their comments can generate rumours in their communities, thereby affecting rates of recruitment to research studies and increasing losses to follow-up. This study sought to identify community perceptions about blood draw for clinical […]
Biocommunicability and the Biopolitics of Pandemic Threats
In this article we assess accounts of the H1N1 virus or “swine flu” to draw attention to the ways in which discourse about biosecurity and global health citizenship during times of pandemic alarms supports calls for the creation of global surveillance systems and naturalizes forms of governance. We propose a medical anthropology of epidemics to […]
