Ebola: How a People's Science Helped End an Epidemic - Brossura

Richards, Paul

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1783608587 ISBN 13: 9781783608584

Casa editrice: Zed Books, 2016

Riassunto

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.

One of the first books to provide an in-depth analysis of the recent pandemic, Ebola offers a clear-eyed account of how and why the disease spread, and why the predictions of international commentators were so misguided. By learning from these mistakes and successes, we can better understand how to harness the power of local communities during future humanitarian health crises.
 

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Recensione:

'A scholarly exercise that will appeal to medical and health policy academics...convincingly argues the broader lesson for containing future epidemics.' --Publishers Weekly

'With his decades of experience in rural Sierra Leone, Richards is almost uniquely placed to write this book, which highlights the strong potential at community level for learning about and acting against a deadly disease. We would do well to implement these principles in future emergency responses of all kinds, as well as within long-term development work.' --Sinead Walsh, Irish Ambassador to Sierra Leone and Liberia

'A valuable reflection of the experiences of affected communities and aid workers in Sierra Leone. This book is a must for all disease control professionals in Africa and beyond. The book is also exceptionally well written and easily accessible to interested novices.' --Ger J. Steenbergen, First Secretary of Health, Netherlands Embassy in Ghana

L'autore:

Paul Richards is emeritus professor of technology and agrarian development at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. He is the author of No Peace, No War: An Anthropology of Contemporary Armed Conflicts, among other books.
 

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Zed Books
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1783608587
• ISBN 13: 9781783608584
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 180