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Ebola: How a People's Science Helped End an Epidemic
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.
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.
192 pages, Hardcover
Published September 15, 2016
18 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 24, 2017
Richard's book is an interesting look at how local communities in Sierra Leone responded to the Ebola pandemic. Those reading this book to understand a broader perspective on the outbreak and response, however, will be disappointed, since Richards does not really touch on these subjects.
November 11, 2020
I did not think it was possible to be so disappointed by a book written by an anthropologist. A review on the back cover claims that “The book is also exceptionally well written and easily accessible to interested novices.” It is neither. It is certainly not appropriate for novices. Paul Richards couches even the simplest of observations in a tangled web of dense theoretical arguments, often from seemingly tangential scholars. These excursions into theory do little to illuminate his arguments and in fact possibly make them more difficult to comprehend.
The only good thing about this book is that it is mercifully short at 150 pages. Despite that, it still took me several days to finish due to the dry treatment of the subject matter. I don’t know how a book about something as dangerous and fascinating as Ebola could be so difficult to read.
The crux of Richards’ argument is that local communities in the three most affected countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia developed an impressive “people’s science” to deal with the epidemic. Cut off as they were from government assistance, with some of the villages only accessible by footpath, they had to start thinking like epidemiologists in order to reduce infection transmission. For example, early messaging from the international community harped on the dangers of eating bushmeat. But locals were skeptical of this claim, having observed firsthand that the virus appeared to spread to those who came in contact with the sick. Local quarantine efforts and improvised PPE were deployed, and some compromises were made regarding burial rituals. As a result of these local efforts, Richards argues, the Ebola epidemic was rather quickly contained. One can infer that Richards thinks the international community was given a little too much credit for stemming the tide.
As the epidemic wore on, international responders had to compromise with respect to the information they disseminated about Ebola. Despite initially saying that home care for the sick was never to be practiced, it quickly became apparent that it was not possible to transport all Ebola patients to a dedicated care facility. Thus, amended guidelines on how to best care for the sick at home while preventing further infection were eventually released. Richards also spends a good deal of time on burial practices in the three countries, noting several aspects of the process, including washing the dead body, that made it very likely that those involved would also become infected with Ebola. He castigates the international community for not understanding the importance of burial rites and notes the frequent local pleas for individual communities to be trained in safe burial practices and be supplied with the appropriate PPE. That said, he also acknowledges the logistical difficulty of enacting that kind of plan, as opposed to operationalizing a traveling “safe burial” team that would handle the Ebola bodies. Overall, that point kind of ended on a stalemate.
I will acknowledge that Richards calls attention to the importance of local knowledge and practice in stemming the Ebola epidemic. But good god this book was annoying. The man does NOT understand how to use a comma. Nor is it a good overview of the Ebola epidemic as a whole. It has a very limited thesis that arguably goes no further than asserting that working with local people and local knowledge is important if you want to stop the spread of sickness. Hopefully that is something that is already well-known.
This is not a resource I would recommend.
The only good thing about this book is that it is mercifully short at 150 pages. Despite that, it still took me several days to finish due to the dry treatment of the subject matter. I don’t know how a book about something as dangerous and fascinating as Ebola could be so difficult to read.
The crux of Richards’ argument is that local communities in the three most affected countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia developed an impressive “people’s science” to deal with the epidemic. Cut off as they were from government assistance, with some of the villages only accessible by footpath, they had to start thinking like epidemiologists in order to reduce infection transmission. For example, early messaging from the international community harped on the dangers of eating bushmeat. But locals were skeptical of this claim, having observed firsthand that the virus appeared to spread to those who came in contact with the sick. Local quarantine efforts and improvised PPE were deployed, and some compromises were made regarding burial rituals. As a result of these local efforts, Richards argues, the Ebola epidemic was rather quickly contained. One can infer that Richards thinks the international community was given a little too much credit for stemming the tide.
As the epidemic wore on, international responders had to compromise with respect to the information they disseminated about Ebola. Despite initially saying that home care for the sick was never to be practiced, it quickly became apparent that it was not possible to transport all Ebola patients to a dedicated care facility. Thus, amended guidelines on how to best care for the sick at home while preventing further infection were eventually released. Richards also spends a good deal of time on burial practices in the three countries, noting several aspects of the process, including washing the dead body, that made it very likely that those involved would also become infected with Ebola. He castigates the international community for not understanding the importance of burial rites and notes the frequent local pleas for individual communities to be trained in safe burial practices and be supplied with the appropriate PPE. That said, he also acknowledges the logistical difficulty of enacting that kind of plan, as opposed to operationalizing a traveling “safe burial” team that would handle the Ebola bodies. Overall, that point kind of ended on a stalemate.
I will acknowledge that Richards calls attention to the importance of local knowledge and practice in stemming the Ebola epidemic. But good god this book was annoying. The man does NOT understand how to use a comma. Nor is it a good overview of the Ebola epidemic as a whole. It has a very limited thesis that arguably goes no further than asserting that working with local people and local knowledge is important if you want to stop the spread of sickness. Hopefully that is something that is already well-known.
This is not a resource I would recommend.
March 27, 2021
This book touches on important topics for global health and disaster/epidemic response; namely, the intersection of epidemiology and anthropology. I found his examples to be enlightening but often insufficient.
A quick read, but also a fairly cursory review.
A quick read, but also a fairly cursory review.
October 5, 2020
Read for school.
January 9, 2022
Good discussions and perspectives but the narrative does not bring the reader along.
Read
October 4, 2022Gelezen als suggestie van mijn scriptie-begeleider. Erg theoretisch maar heel interessant. De main take-away: leer eerst over de lokale cultuur voordat je beleid maakt.
August 28, 2020
Excellent read and the author gives a first world view of the Ebola epidemic not only from the World Health Organization's point of view, but from the People's view. This book really opened up my eyes from a cultural perspective from the people who were inflicted, their cultural views, traditions and practices and how it took a cross-cultural approach from everyone to rid the African countries from this deadly disease. Highly recommend.
March 2, 2017
Though it was like reading a scholarly paper at times it was really interesting to read about Ebola within the perspective of culture. Paul Richards is an anthropologist so I have a whole new respect for this field. Basically, his common sense contention is that we can't overlook the importance of engaging local front line community in designing and implementing an effective response to infectious disease.
October 12, 2016
A good review of how social systems should adjust when dealing with a larger threat
Ebola is but one of many events threatening not just the human life but the social system that makes life possible today - and learning how a social response apart from the medical should be wielded is very much the part of this book and reviewed in full detail.
Ebola is but one of many events threatening not just the human life but the social system that makes life possible today - and learning how a social response apart from the medical should be wielded is very much the part of this book and reviewed in full detail.
February 4, 2017
A very interesting and informative read detailing how important general ways of life are in influencing the spread or retreat of a major disease. However it did often feel like I was reading someone's dissertation where they were trying to hit a word count.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews