You are here

Article Text

Article menu

Download PDFPDF

XML
Commentary
Public health impact of the 2014–2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa: seizing opportunities for the future
  1. Alexandre Delamou1,
  2. Thérèse Delvaux2,
  3. Alison Marie El Ayadi3,
  4. Abdoul Habib Beavogui4,
  5. Junko Okumura5,
  6. Wim Van Damme6,
  7. Vincent De Brouwere2
  1. 1Department of Public Health, Gamal University of Conakry, Conakry, Guinea
  2. 2Woman and Child Health Research Centre, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
  3. 3Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA
  4. 4Department of Parasitology–Mycology, Gamal University of Conakry, Conakry, Guinea
  5. 5Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Nagasaki, Japan
  6. 6Health Policy Unit, Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium
  1. Correspondence to Dr Alexandre Delamou; adelamou{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2016-000202

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    The 2014–2015 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak was unique in geography and extent, with most of the 28 610 cases and 11 308 deaths, including among healthcare workers (HCW), occurring in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.1 Explanations for the rapid spread and persistence of the outbreak include weak health systems (limited qualified HCW, poor infrastructure and logistics, and weak governance and funding for the health sector), sociocultural behaviours misaligned with infection control measures, poverty, political instability, poorly coordinated vertical programmes and significant cross-border population mobility.2 ,3

    These realities hindered an effective and immediate response to the outbreak, resulting in the disastrous public health impacts observed in West Africa. Ill-implemented EVD control strategies and insufficient communication with the population led to a suspicion of ‘Ebola business’ that created mistrust in the health systems and their stewards.4 ,5 This resulted in communities' refusal to seek care for EVD-related symptoms and avoidance of health facilities.5 In Sierra Leone, for example, a 30% decreased odds of facility-based delivery were reported in rural areas after the start of the EVD outbreak.6 In Guinea, a rapid decrease in urban maternity admissions in Conakry was observed after the EVD outbreak started.7

    The EVD outbreak has also led to the disruption in service use and an accompanying substantial increase in the mortality rates of other diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis across West Africa.8 For example, Plucinski et al9 reported 11% and 15% …

    View Full Text