Local governance of the 2014 ebola Epidemic: a PhD synthesis
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: BACKGROUND: The doctoral dissertation examines how local response efforts were integrated into overall emergency management. OBJECTIVES: It seeks to understand the role and effectiveness of community-based actors in addressing collective action problems. METHODS: Sixty-seven semi-structured interviews were conducted from January to July 2017 in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Key informants include healthcare workers, traditional leaders, and community stakeholders, such as non-governmental organization representatives and volunteers. RESULTS: Findings show that traditional and community leaders responded to the public health emergency via rulemaking, quarantine, travel limitation, healthcare referrals, health sensitization, and door-to-door contact tracing. These actions by local leaders helped to change behaviors and improve cooperation. Sierra Leone had 32.3% more Ebola cases than Liberia but 18% fewer deaths. Sierra Leone had integrated traditional and community leaders before the scale up of international aid resources. CONCLUSION: This suggests that actions taken by traditional and community leaders improved overall efforts, and in some areas, before scaled-up humanitarian interventions. Bilateral engagement with local community actors should be integrated in every public health response to improve cooperation, and it should be done before an intervention is conceived and executed.
Source: Global Health Action
Author: Sabine Iva Franklin
Institutions: Wellesley College, University of Westminster
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,509
Funder: University of Westminster
OpenAlex ID: W4403317496