Description
Book SynopsisIn this case study, readers will embark on an improbable journey through the heart of Africa to discover how indigenous people cope with the rapid-killing Ebola virus. The Hewletts are the first anthropologists ever invited by the World Health Organization to join a medical intervention team and assist in efforts to control an Ebola outbreak. Their account addresses political, structural, psychological, and cultural factors, along with conventional intervention protocols as problematic to achieving medical objectives. They find obvious historical and cultural answers to otherwise-puzzling questions about why village people often flee, refuse to cooperate, and sometimes physically attack members of intervention teams. Perhaps surprisingly, readers will discover how some cultural practices of local people are helpful and should be incorporated into control procedures. The authors shed new light on a continuing debate about the motivation for human behavior by showing how local responses
Table of Contents1. Images and First Contact. 2. Outbreak Ethnography: The Anthropologists Toolkit. 3. Indigenous Knowledge about Epidemics: Uganda 2000-2001. 4. Providing Humanitarian Care: Congo 2003. 5. Facing Death and Stigmatization: Healthcare Workers and Survivors. 6. Ebola Outbreaks, Past and Present. 7. Outbreak Control. 8. Explaining Human Responses to Acute High-Mortality Epidemics. 9. Policy, Terrorism, and Bird Flu. Appendix A: The Role of a Medical Anthropologist in Outbreak Alert and Response. Appendix B: Useful Internet Sites. References Cited. Index.
