Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/darius-mans/behavior-change-is-key-to_b_5752704.html
Darius Mans
President, Africare
Behavior Change Is Key to the Eradication of Ebola
Posted: 09/02/2014 5:26 pm EDT Updated: 34 minutes ago
As the number of Ebola cases and deaths grows in West Africa, many remain unaware of its deadly impact, causes and treatment options, or lack thereof. Education about the disease is essential both in the developed world and, more critically, on the African continent...
...Yet, even as support from around the globe arrives in West Africa in the form of money, medical supplies and health care workers, the epidemic rages on because these resources address just one part of what is a complex and tragic global health problem. No amount of financial support and manpower can defeat Ebola without an informed and mobilized populace in support, and right now cultural, religious and social beliefs are impeding efforts to combat the disease.
In some places locals refuse to acknowledge the existence of Ebola, believing it to be a government plot, and health care workers are regarded with fear or disdain, as many locals hold them responsible for the mounting death toll. When the very people charged with providing treatment and care are run out of villages by angry mobs, hope of eradicating the disease grows dim.
While medical experts work feverishly to make an untested but promising cure for Ebola available, experts in the science of behavior change must address the long-held but misguided local beliefs to spread accurate, sound information about what must be done at the community level to eradicate Ebola systematically throughout West Africa. The disease will only be stopped -- and it will be stopped -- through thoughtful, culturally appropriate education and a comprehensive behavior change campaign.
The absence of an effective community-focused communication strategy about Ebola, and the absence of real-time information will continue to make it harder to quarantine and treat cases. To curb the spread of Ebola, organizations and governments must incorporate a sub-regional response into national eradication plans. An assessment done by the World Health Organization of the outbreak response conducted in Liberia identified several gaps and challenges with response efforts, including low coverage of contact tracing, persisting denial and resistance to help at the community level, substandard management of data, and inadequate infection prevention and control practices -- especially in peripheral health facilities...
Darius Mans
President, Africare
Behavior Change Is Key to the Eradication of Ebola
Posted: 09/02/2014 5:26 pm EDT Updated: 34 minutes ago
As the number of Ebola cases and deaths grows in West Africa, many remain unaware of its deadly impact, causes and treatment options, or lack thereof. Education about the disease is essential both in the developed world and, more critically, on the African continent...
...Yet, even as support from around the globe arrives in West Africa in the form of money, medical supplies and health care workers, the epidemic rages on because these resources address just one part of what is a complex and tragic global health problem. No amount of financial support and manpower can defeat Ebola without an informed and mobilized populace in support, and right now cultural, religious and social beliefs are impeding efforts to combat the disease.
In some places locals refuse to acknowledge the existence of Ebola, believing it to be a government plot, and health care workers are regarded with fear or disdain, as many locals hold them responsible for the mounting death toll. When the very people charged with providing treatment and care are run out of villages by angry mobs, hope of eradicating the disease grows dim.
While medical experts work feverishly to make an untested but promising cure for Ebola available, experts in the science of behavior change must address the long-held but misguided local beliefs to spread accurate, sound information about what must be done at the community level to eradicate Ebola systematically throughout West Africa. The disease will only be stopped -- and it will be stopped -- through thoughtful, culturally appropriate education and a comprehensive behavior change campaign.
The absence of an effective community-focused communication strategy about Ebola, and the absence of real-time information will continue to make it harder to quarantine and treat cases. To curb the spread of Ebola, organizations and governments must incorporate a sub-regional response into national eradication plans. An assessment done by the World Health Organization of the outbreak response conducted in Liberia identified several gaps and challenges with response efforts, including low coverage of contact tracing, persisting denial and resistance to help at the community level, substandard management of data, and inadequate infection prevention and control practices -- especially in peripheral health facilities...