Anthropologists Can Help Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic

Gert van der Hoek · Sep 27, 2014

September 26, 2014

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Ten Things that Anthropologists Can Do to Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic

By Sharon Abramowitz

Take notice, global health and national and international biosecurity communities. There exists an entire discipline of anthropology that is dedicated to connecting the global and the local, to understanding and mapping populations in crisis, and serve as interlocutors[1] between international institutions and local populations in this region.

Laidback Al · Sep 27, 2014

Re: Anthropologists Can Help Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic

While the article raises a number of important issues, sending a bunch of medical anthropologists to the Ebola stricken areas in West Africa is not what is needed at this stage in the outbreak. What is relevant to this article are the insightful comments provided by Theresa MacPhail. She states

While I respect the intent and obvious concern motivating this essay, I have to disagree with some of the points being made here. I?ve worked with, observed, interviewed, and consulted for staff working within ?global? health at the CDC and WHO, and I can attest that they aren?t quite as clumsy when it comes to culture as they are assumed to be in this piece. Most of them are very interested in working with medical anthropologists to improve international response and to understand how local cultural systems may affect the transmission of disease. Not only do they fully understand that local cultures are part of ?situational awareness? during an outbreak, but they also requested my aide in better understanding their own institutional ?cultures? in order to improve collaborative responses in the field. All steps in the right direction.

. . . The trouble is that this situation caught everyone by surprise and no one was prepared to escalate the response. The outbreak is different than a ?routine? Ebola outbreak and in coping with scant resources and staff over widespread areas, there is little room for ?systematic? collection of data on local customs or beliefs. It?s more of a ?all hands on deck? type of response. Medical anthropologists are there, working with teams. As pointed out above, the WHO has a network of medical anthropologists set up for this. And whether or not we agree it?s enough or not, it?s a positive step in the right direction.

Why don?t they want medical anthropologists without MDs or training in epidemiology to respond directly? Because we would only be at risk and/or in the way. In other words, in this situation, we?re a liability. Even those trained in medicine or epidemiology typically receive intense special training in order to be ?deployable? in such situations. Of course MSF is not going to rely on medical anthropologists without an MD or an MPH. At least not right now. . . .

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Laidback Al · Sep 28, 2014

Re: Anthropologists Can Help Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic

In a Scientific American blog, John Horgan provides comments about the Ebola outbreak from Theresa MacPhail, a medical anthropologist.

see: Ebola ?Fear Mongering? Critiqued by Medical Anthropologist

. . .
Horgan: I?ve been reading some scary stories about the Ebola epidemic lately, such as one by journalist Laurie Garrett headlined, ?You Are Not Nearly Scared Enough About Ebola.? Should people be scared?

MacPhail: I think what Laurie Garrett is saying about the public health infrastructure is true. That?s what we should be frightened of ? the chronic inequality in the global healthcare system. Ebola is a terrible disease. It is more terrible in countries without basic supplies. But I don?t think that fanning the flames of Ebola fears are going to solve those problems. We should be more worried that the basic infrastructure isn?t there. I?m more frightened of MERS, for instance, than I am of Ebola. Ebola cases might trickle into the U.S. or other cities. But those cases are not likely to lead to any additional spread. . . .

Horgan: Is there a downside to exaggerated reports about infectious diseases?

MacPhail: I think so, yes. I think that when you hype up fears around a single disease agent like Ebola, or MERS or SARS for that matter, you run the risk of masking the true threats to health ? which have more to do with how prepared we are to handle ANY outbreak of infectious disease than with any single infectious disease agent. Take bird flu, as just one example. For years, we?ve been preparing for an outbreak of a deadly strain of influenza. All this money has poured into surveillance systems (which is probably good) and planning. But in our myopia about flu, what did we miss? In preparing for a deadly outbreak of a highly infectious disease agent, did we adequately prepare to deal with something like the spread of dengue fever or Chikungunya ? both of which are nasty viruses spread by mosquitoes and are making slow but sure advances here in the U.S.? I?m a fan of making people aware of the dangers, but I?m not sure I see how exaggerating the dangers of someone in the U.S. contracting Ebola is going to help us.

Not to be too crass, but there?s always money to be made in fear mongering. I?m sure the click-thru rates go up for a story with a bold title about Ebola.

Horgan: Your bachelor?s degree was in journalism. Do you have any advice for journalists and other communicators reporting on outbreaks of diseases like Ebola?

MacPhail: I think it?s easy to get caught up in the drama of outbreaks. Ebola is a dramatic virus ? the havoc it creates is real and the effects it can have on the body are truly horrific. It?s hard, as a journalist, not to focus on those aspects of an outbreak. Ebola is like all our worst nightmares coming true. But as journalists, we need to take a step back and analyze the bigger picture.

Something like Ebola takes the old adage ?If it bleeds, it leads? to a whole new level. . . .

Horgan: What kind of job are the media doing reporting on Ebola?

MacPhail: Not a great one overall. But I think it depends on the outlet and the individuals assigned to the task. Clearly we didn?t need live-streaming of the ambulance carrying the two U.S. patients to Emory. That was taking ?sensationalism? to new heights. The other glaring problem I?ve noticed is how people have been reporting on African ?culture? in relationship to this outbreak. Burial practices, wild meat consumption, and local reactions to quarantine and isolation have all been described as ?cultural? problems that promote the spread of Ebola. As an anthropologist, I think that journalists should be careful when they use ?culture? as a rationale. Culture is not an explanation. It?s something that needs further examination. Culture should not be a cudgel used to blame the victims of Ebola for their own suffering. I?m thinking, in specific, of that horrible and racist Newsweek cover (Aug. 29), blaming the consumption of bushmeat for the spread of Ebola. (The best rebuttal to this was in the Washington Post.) That Newsweek story, in my opinion, is just really bad journalism. Where were their facts, statistics, evidence? Sadly, I think that Ebola has created another venue for Western journalists to promote Africa as a ?backwards? or ?dirty? and diseased place ? and not only is that not true, that type of racist rhetoric doesn?t do anyone any good. As journalists, we need to do better than this. . . .

Gert van der Hoek · Sep 29, 2014

Re: Anthropologists Can Help Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic

"Ebola is not war"

Fight Ebola, not by force, not by coercion, but by cooperation

The rhetoric the UN uses to ?fight? the Ebola epidemic is directly derived from Sierra Leonean society. This slogan captures the very heart of the problem as it symbolizes why the epidemic is so difficult to contain: the unbridgeable gap between the people and their government.

Patients are victims, not criminals. If we want to help the people of the Ebola affected countries, we have to give them back their humanity. If we understand their suffering, we are two steps closer to eradicating the Ebola epidemic.

From blog by Ginny Mooy : Ebola strips Africans from their humanity

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Anthropologists Can Help Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic

Gert van der Hoek

In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator

Laidback Al

Well-known member

Laidback Al

Well-known member

Gert van der Hoek

In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator