The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309450063
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
The most recent Ebola epidemic that began in late 2013 alerted the entire world to the gaps in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. The regional outbreak that progressed to a significant public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in a matter of months killed 11,310 and infected more than 28,616. While this outbreak bears some unique distinctions to past outbreaks, many characteristics remain the same and contributed to tragic loss of human life and unnecessary expenditure of capital: insufficient knowledge of the disease, its reservoirs, and its transmission; delayed prevention efforts and treatment; poor control of the disease in hospital settings; and inadequate community and international responses. Recognizing the opportunity to learn from the countless lessons of this epidemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2015 to discuss the challenges to successful outbreak responses at the scientific, clinical, and global health levels. Workshop participants explored the epidemic from multiple perspectives, identified important questions about Ebola that remained unanswered, and sought to apply this understanding to the broad challenges posed by Ebola and other emerging pathogens, to prevent the international community from being taken by surprise once again in the face of these threats. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa

The Ebola Epidemic in West Africa PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309450063
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 137

Get Book Here

Book Description
The most recent Ebola epidemic that began in late 2013 alerted the entire world to the gaps in infectious disease emergency preparedness and response. The regional outbreak that progressed to a significant public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) in a matter of months killed 11,310 and infected more than 28,616. While this outbreak bears some unique distinctions to past outbreaks, many characteristics remain the same and contributed to tragic loss of human life and unnecessary expenditure of capital: insufficient knowledge of the disease, its reservoirs, and its transmission; delayed prevention efforts and treatment; poor control of the disease in hospital settings; and inadequate community and international responses. Recognizing the opportunity to learn from the countless lessons of this epidemic, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2015 to discuss the challenges to successful outbreak responses at the scientific, clinical, and global health levels. Workshop participants explored the epidemic from multiple perspectives, identified important questions about Ebola that remained unanswered, and sought to apply this understanding to the broad challenges posed by Ebola and other emerging pathogens, to prevent the international community from being taken by surprise once again in the face of these threats. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

Understanding West Africas Ebola Epidemic

Understanding West Africas Ebola Epidemic PDF Author: Ibrahim Abdullah
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1786991713
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 167

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Book Description
From 2013 to 2015, over 11,000 people across West Africa lost their lives to the deadliest outbreak of the Ebola virus in history. Crucially, this epidemic marked the first time the virus was able to spread beyond rural areas to major cities, overturning conventional assumptions about its epidemiology. With backgrounds ranging from development to disease control, the contributors to this volume - some of them based in countries affected by the Ebola epidemic - consider the underlying factors that shaped this unprecedented outbreak. While championing the heroic efforts of local communities and aid workers in halting the spread of the disease, the contributors also reveal deep structural problems in both the countries and humanitarian agencies involved, which hampered the efforts to contain the epidemic. Alarmingly, they show that little has been learned from these events, with health provision remaining underfunded and poorly equipped to deal with future outbreaks. Such issues, they argue, reflect the wider challenges we face in tackling epidemic disease in an increasingly interconnected world.

The Politics of Fear

The Politics of Fear PDF Author: Michiel Hofman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190624477
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
The Politics of Fear is Médecins sans Frontières's commissioned analysis of the politics surrounding the 2014 Ebola epidemic and response. Comprising eleven topic-based chapters and four eyewitness vignettes from contributors inside and outside MSF (all of whom have been given access to MSF Ebola archives from Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia for research), it aims to provide a politically agnostic account of the defining health event of the 21st century so far, a resource that will inform current opinions and foster effectual, cooperative response to the future epidemics.

Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds

Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds PDF Author: Paul Farmer
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 0374716986
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 429

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Book Description
“Paul Farmer brings his considerable intellect, empathy, and expertise to bear in this powerful and deeply researched account of the Ebola outbreak that struck West Africa in 2014. It is hard to imagine a more timely or important book.” —Bill and Melinda Gates "[The] history is as powerfully conveyed as it is tragic . . . Illuminating . . . Invaluable." —Steven Johnson, The New York Times Book Review In 2014, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea suffered the worst epidemic of Ebola in history. The brutal virus spread rapidly through a clinical desert where basic health-care facilities were few and far between. Causing severe loss of life and economic disruption, the Ebola crisis was a major tragedy of modern medicine. But why did it happen, and what can we learn from it? Paul Farmer, the internationally renowned doctor and anthropologist, experienced the Ebola outbreak firsthand—Partners in Health, the organization he founded, was among the international responders. In Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds, he offers the first substantive account of this frightening, fast-moving episode and its implications. In vibrant prose, Farmer tells the harrowing stories of Ebola victims while showing why the medical response was slow and insufficient. Rebutting misleading claims about the origins of Ebola and why it spread so rapidly, he traces West Africa’s chronic health failures back to centuries of exploitation and injustice. Under formal colonial rule, disease containment was a priority but care was not – and the region’s health care woes worsened, with devastating consequences that Farmer traces up to the present. This thorough and hopeful narrative is a definitive work of reportage, history, and advocacy, and a crucial intervention in public-health discussions around the world.

Ebola

Ebola PDF Author: Paul Richards
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1783608617
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Shortlisted for the Fage and Oliver Prize 2018 From December 2013, the largest Ebola outbreak in history swept across West Africa, claiming thousands of lives in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. By the middle of 2014, the international community was gripped by hysteria. Experts grimly predicted that millions would be infected within months, and a huge international control effort was mounted to contain the virus. Yet paradoxically, by this point the disease was already going into decline in Africa itself. So why did outside observers get it so wrong? Paul Richards draws on his extensive first-hand experience in Sierra Leone to argue that the international community’s panicky 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 these initiatives and that it hampered recovery when it ignored or disregarded local knowledge.

Risk Communication for the Future

Risk Communication for the Future PDF Author: Mathilde Bourrier
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319740989
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
The conventional approach to risk communication, based on a centralized and controlled model, has led to blatant failures in the management of recent safety related events. In parallel, several cases have proved that actors not thought of as risk governance or safety management contributors may play a positive role regarding safety. Building on these two observations and bridging the gap between risk communication and safety practices leads to a new, more societal perspective on risk communication, that allows for smart risk governance and safety management. This book is Open Access under a CC-BY licence.

Ebola

Ebola PDF Author: Dorothy H. Crawford
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198759991
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
Ebola is a compelling account of the recent terrible epidemic which swept through West Africa. Why did it spread; what was the international response; what is the long-term impact; what lessons can be learned for the future? This book combines the latest scientific insights with personal accounts from medical workers.

No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses

No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses PDF Author: Peter Piot
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 039306316X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Book Description
The story of a microbiologist's remarkable career, from identifying the Ebolavirus to pioneering AIDS research and policy.

Outbreak Culture

Outbreak Culture PDF Author: Pardis Sabeti
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674260473
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year ÒA critical, poignant postmortem of the epidemic.Ó ÑWashington Post ÒForceful and instructive...Sabeti and Salahi uncover competition, sabotage, fear, blame, and disorganization bordering on chaos, features that are seen in just about any lethal epidemic.Ó ÑPaul Farmer, cofounder of Partners in Health ÒThe central theme of the book...is that common threads of dysfunction run through responses to epidemics...The power of Outbreak Culture is its universality.Ó ÑNature ÒSabeti and Salahi present a wealth of evidence supporting the imperative that outbreak response must operate in a coordinated, real-time manner.Ó ÑScience As we saw with the Ebola outbreakÑand the disastrous early handling of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemicÑa lack of preparedness, delays, and system-wide problems with the distribution of critical medical supplies can have deadly consequences. Yet after every outbreak, the systems put in place to coordinate emergency responses are generally dismantled. One of AmericaÕs top biomedical researchers, Dr. Pardis Sabeti, and her Pulitzer PrizeÐwinning collaborator, Lara Salahi, argue that these problems are built into the ecosystem of our emergency responses. With an understanding of the path of disease and insight into political psychology, they show how secrecy, competition, and poor coordination plague nearly every major public health crisis and reveal how much more could be done to safeguard the well-being of caregivers, patients, and vulnerable communities. A work of fearless integrity and unassailable authority, Outbreak Culture seeks to ensure that we make some urgently needed changes before the next pandemic.

Understanding West Africa's Ebola Epidemic

Understanding West Africa's Ebola Epidemic PDF Author: Ibrahim Abdullah
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786991705
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
From 2013 to 2015, over 11,000 people across West Africa lost their lives to the deadliest outbreak of the Ebola virus in history. Crucially, this epidemic marked the first time the virus was able to spread beyond rural areas to major cities, overturning conventional assumptions about its epidemiology. With backgrounds ranging from development to disease control, the contributors to this volume - some of them based in countries affected by the Ebola epidemic - consider the underlying factors that shaped this unprecedented outbreak. While championing the heroic efforts of local communities and aid workers in halting the spread of the disease, the contributors also reveal deep structural problems in both the countries and humanitarian agencies involved, which hampered the efforts to contain the epidemic. Alarmingly, they show that little has been learned from these events, with health provision remaining underfunded and poorly equipped to deal with future outbreaks. Such issues, they argue, reflect the wider challenges we face in tackling epidemic disease in an increasingly interconnected world.