scholarly journals Shadowlands and dark corners

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Almudena Marí Sáez ◽  
Ann H. Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Lassa Fever ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research Project ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
And Control

Viral haemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) persist in darkness. The pathogenicity of viruses like Lassa, Marburg, and Ebola is partly explained by their ability to survive on surfaces outside their infected hosts, provided they are not exposed to heat, disinfecting chemicals, or ultraviolet light. Taking these basic virological insights as our starting point, we seek to elaborate ethnographically the links between disease transmission and gradations of luminosity. An interdisciplinary research project into the control of Lassa fever in West Africa provided the empirical prompt for this article, which we then extended through our experience working in the region during the 2014–2016 Ebola virus outbreak. The spectral dimensions of zoonotic exchange and the apprehensions they engender help us come to grips with the complex interface of viral biology and human-animal sociality, and, we suggest, add nuance to global health framings of disease transmission and control.

scholarly journals Ebola Virus Epidemic in West Africa: Global Health Economic Challenges, Lessons Learned, and Policy Recommendations

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 67-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmoud Elmahdawy ◽  
Gihan H. Elsisi ◽  
Joao Carapinha ◽  
Mohamed Lamorde ◽  
Abdulrazaq Habib ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Economic ◽  
Global Health ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Policy Recommendations

Achieving the SDGs through interdisciplinary research in global health

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (8) ◽  
pp. 793-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibylle L Herzig Van Wees ◽  
Mats Målqvist ◽  
Rachel Irwin
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Global Health Research ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
New Research

The Swedish Global Health Research Conference held in Stockholm, 18–19 April 2018, convened researchers from across Sweden’s universities to foster collaboration and new research. In response to the theme of the conference, How can Sweden contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals? From research to action, many of the plenary and keynote speakers highlighted the importance of interdisciplinary research and teaching. This commentary draws upon a workshop discussing interdisciplinarity, which took place at the conference. Participants included senior professors, lecturers, students and collaborators from the private sector and civil society and we discussed the conceptual and structural challenges that prevent engagement in interdisciplinary research. Although the workshop focused on the Swedish context, issues will be familiar to researchers working outside of Sweden. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals highlight the grand challenges for global society and are intertwined, with progress in one affecting progress in all others. With this starting point, we argue that interdisciplinary research is the way to achieve them. Accordingly, we need to overcome the conceptual and structural challenges that can hinder it. We therefore argue for a paradigm shift of how we value knowledge. We also call for fundamental changes in external and internal (university-level) funding structures, and for the strengthening of interdisciplinary global health teaching.

La Palabre: A New Schema for Global Health

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 541-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Patrick Luan ◽  
Paul Reed
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Disaster Preparedness ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Response Effort ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
The Public ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Public Sphere

AbstractThe Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa has led to a paradigm shift in the way the global community responds to outbreaks of disease. This new paradigm places even greater emphasis on collaboration in global health. Thepalabre,the traditional African practice of mediation and decision-making in the public sphere, offers a schema from which to view current and future global health engagement. This process of dialogue and exchange has many applications to global health exemplified recently by the West African Disaster Preparedness Initiative (WADPI), a follow-on activity to the Operation United Assistance (OUA) Ebola Response effort. WADPI, utilizing the structure of apalabre,seeks to catalyze and synergize constructive collaboration to set a foundation for disaster response in West Africa for years to come. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:541–543)

scholarly journals Integrative modelling for One Health: pattern, process and participation

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1725) ◽  
pp. 20160164 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Scoones ◽  
K. Jones ◽  
G. Lo Iacono ◽  
D. W. Redding ◽  
A. Wilkinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Transmission ◽  
One Health ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Lassa Fever ◽  
Process Pattern ◽  
Lassa Fever Virus ◽  
To Come ◽  
Health Agenda ◽  
Modelling Approach

This paper argues for an integrative modelling approach for understanding zoonoses disease dynamics, combining process, pattern and participatory models. Each type of modelling provides important insights, but all are limited. Combining these in a ‘3P’ approach offers the opportunity for a productive conversation between modelling efforts, contributing to a ‘One Health’ agenda. The aim is not to come up with a composite model, but seek synergies between perspectives, encouraging cross-disciplinary interactions. We illustrate our argument with cases from Africa, and in particular from our work on Ebola virus and Lassa fever virus. Combining process-based compartmental models with macroecological data offers a spatial perspective on potential disease impacts. However, without insights from the ground, the ‘black box’ of transmission dynamics, so crucial to model assumptions, may not be fully understood. We show how participatory modelling and ethnographic research of Ebola and Lassa fever can reveal social roles, unsafe practices, mobility and movement and temporal changes in livelihoods. Together with longer-term dynamics of change in societies and ecologies, all can be important in explaining disease transmission, and provide important complementary insights to other modelling efforts. An integrative modelling approach therefore can offer help to improve disease control efforts and public health responses. This article is part of the themed issue ‘One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being’.

scholarly journals Views from many worlds: unsettling categories in interdisciplinary research on endemic zoonotic diseases

2017 ◽  
Vol 372 (1725) ◽  
pp. 20160170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hayley MacGregor ◽  
Linda Waldman
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Interdisciplinary Research ◽  
One Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Zoonotic Diseases ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Many Worlds ◽  
Human Animal

Interdisciplinary research on zoonotic disease has tended to focus on ‘risk’ of disease transmission as a conceptual common denominator. With reference to endemic zoonoses at the livestock–human interface, we argue for considering a broader sweep of disciplinary insights from anthropology and other social sciences in interdisciplinary dialogue, in particular cross-cultural perspectives on human–animal engagement. We consider diverse worldviews where human–animal encounters are perceived of in terms of the kinds of social relations they generate, and the notion of culture is extended to the ‘natural’ world. This has implications for how animals are valued, treated and prioritized. Thinking differently with and about animals and about species' boundaries could enable ways of addressing zoonotic diseases which have closer integration with people's own cultural norms. If we can bring this kind of knowledge into One Health debates, we find ourselves with a multiplicity of worldviews, where bounded categories such as human:animal and nature:culture cannot be assumed. This might in turn influence our scientific ways of seeing our own disciplinary cultures, and generate novel ways of understanding zoonoses and constructing solutions. This article is part of the themed issue ‘One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being’.

Academic Institutions’ Critical Guidelines for Health Care Workers Who Deploy to West Africa for the Ebola Response and Future Crises

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 586-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hilarie Cranmer ◽  
Miriam Aschkenasy ◽  
Ryan Wildes ◽  
Stephanie Kayden ◽  
David Bangsberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Medical Response ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
Health Care Infrastructure ◽  
And Control

AbstractThe unprecedented Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa, with its first cases documented in March 2014, has claimed the lives of thousands of people, and it has devastated the health care infrastructure and workforce in affected countries. Throughout this outbreak, there has been a critical lack of health care workers (HCW), including physicians, nurses, and other essential non-clinical staff, who have been needed, in most of the affected countries, to support the medical response to EVD, to attend to the health care needs of the population overall, and to be trained effectively in infection protection and control. This lack of sufficient and qualified HCW is due in large part to three factors: 1) limited HCW staff prior to the outbreak, 2) disproportionate illness and death among HCWs caused by EVD directly, and 3) valid concerns about personal safety among international HCWs who are considering responding to the affected areas. These guidelines are meant to inform institutions who deploy professional HCWs. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2015;9:586–590)

scholarly journals Response to Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak in Nigeria, West Africa: The Zaria experience

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aisha Abubakar ◽  
Kabir Sabitu ◽  
Mohammed Nasir Sambo ◽  
Abdulrazaq Gobir ◽  
Sani Abrahim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Infection Control ◽  
Case Management ◽  
Prevention And Control ◽  
Ebola Virus ◽  
Virus Disease ◽  
Ebola Virus Disease ◽  
University Teaching ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
And Control

ObjectiveTo assess the formation and function of a joint committee of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) to prevent and control EVD in Zaria and the North West sub region of Nigeria.IntroductionThe Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa was unprecedented in spread and its attendant response. There were over 15 000 confirmed cases and over 9 000 suspected cases. The response to the outbreak was massive within Africa and beyond. The outbreak in Nigeria affected 19 people and led to 7 deaths (CFR 37%).There were more than 891 contacts of these cases under surveillance as at 23rd September 2014. Nigeria was declared EVD free by the World Health Organization in October 2014.Nationwide there was targeted preparedness to prevent and control EVD. In Zaria, this led to the formation of a joint committee of the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) and the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital (ABUTH) to prevent and control EVD in Zaria and the sub region as a whole.MethodsA joint multidisciplinary committee was formed by ABU and ABUTH with representatives from the Department of Community Medicine, Internal Medicine, Nursing sciences, Veterinary Public Health, Medical Microbiology, Mass Communication, Directorate of Public Affairs ABU Zaria, General Administration and Management services division ABUTH, the University Health Services and the Centre for Disease Risk Management under the Department of Geography. Four subcommittees were created steered by the main committee. The subcommittees were Surveillance; Case Management; Infection Control and Social and Mass mobilization subcommitteesResultsThe committee conducted seminars and trainings in case management, surveillance and infection control. Mass media campaigns included radio jingles production and airing as well as production of flyers and posters on EVD prevention and control. There was a phone in live radio programme. Screening exercise for raised temperature was conducted using laser thermometers at main entry points. A case of suspected EVD was managed who turned out to be a case of dengue haemorrhagic fever.ConclusionsThe committee was enriched by its multidisciplinary nature and a blueprint for the control and prevention of EVD was developed in line with national and global standards. The committee was hampered with lack of funds to implement fully the blueprint for the prevention and control of EVD in Zaria and its environs. The committee transformed into the ABU/ABUTH Epidemic Preparedness and Response Committee after the outbreak was over to address other emerging epidemics.ReferencesABU/ABUTH Joint Committee For The Prevention And Control Of Ebola Virus Disease (ABUPACE) Blueprint For Prevention And Control Of Ebola Virus Disease In ABU/ABUTH Zaria 2014. Pages 1-44World Health Organization. WHO declares end of Ebola outbreak in Nigeria www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2014/nigeria-ends-ebola/en/ 

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