Shelley Lees, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine dan Luisa Enria, University of Bath
A proper understanding of community dynamics and local beliefs can inform medical interventions that are capable of establishing positive and productive relations with local communities.
Ebola is difficult to contain because of human social and behavioural factors. But it can be if 100% of the infected people’s contacts are identified and monitored.
The high stress conditions of an outbreak can spread a dysfunctional culture among those working to fight it. A survey after the 2015 Ebola epidemic quantified the issue – and suggests a better way.
In January, measles returned to the Pacific Northwest, while Ebola resurged in the Congo. It would take a lot more research for scientists to be able to stop threats like these in their tracks.
Part-time lecturer at the Global Health & Social Medicine, Harvard University, and Lecturer at the School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Liberia
Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Protection Research Unit in Emerging and Zoonotic Infections, and Professor of Neurology, University of Liverpool