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Even seemingly straightforward interventions, such as vaccine delivery, require real-time awareness of emergent on-the-ground local (‘field’) realities.
Outbreak response requires thoughtful engagement that include local communities from the start.
Methodologies to actively witness, document and integrate unexpected events and consequences of implementations in response are needed.
Emergent theory designs hold important disciplinary and methodological implications for implementing and delivering interventions.
Emergent theory designs, such as ethnography, are an essential part of effective outbreak response, capturing emerging barriers and facilitators in real time and bridging local and global realities.
How prepared were we for this most recent Ebola outbreak? Real-time emergent research is imperative for successful response to global health emergencies. While innovative biomedical interventions are certainly important,1 local on-the-ground realities during the 2014–2015 West African Ebola epidemic demanded a different though complementary set of research skills. Effective response required deep, sensitive understandings of emergent local dynamics and flexible, emergent solution. Emergency intervention called for evolving, flexible emergent methods that produced and translated rapid knowledge throughout the crisis. Yet, the need for emergent theory methodologies such as ethnography that actively witness and document the unforeseen consequences of emergencies and their response receives little attention in preparedness strategies.2
Global health community preparedness and response largely hinges on the rapid financialisation and development of innovative …