Suspected plague outbreak in Madagascar
Blog
Suspected cases of plague were detected in Ankazobe municipality, Analamanga region, Madagascar at the end of September and start of October 2023.
health seeking behaviour
Health-Seeking Behaviours in Équateur Province, DRC
Key socio-cultural considerations concerning health beliefs and health-seeking behaviour.
Contextual Factors Shaping Cholera Transmission and Treatment-Seeking in Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia
The drought in the Horn of Africa and the protracted conflict has created a humanitarian emergency that has led to a declaration of famine in several regions of Somalia and the Somali region of Ethiopia. As a result of depleted water resources, widespread internal displacement, malnutrition, and inadequate water and sanitation facilities, cholera outbreaks have occurred.
Diaspora Communications and Health Seeking Behaviour in the Time of Ebola: Findings from the Sierra Leonean Community in London
The Sierra Leonean diaspora was active in responding to the Ebola outbreak that hit Sierra Leone in March 2014, both by providing financial and material support, and through direct communication with relatives, friends and colleagues back home. This paper looks at the role of diaspora communications on health seeking behaviour in Sierra Leone. It examines the range of communication strategies employed by members of the diaspora; the dynamics of communications as the epidemic spread during 2014/15, and the role of diaspora associations in liaising with local institutions within Sierra Leone.
It argues that their communications played an important and often innovative part in the cumulative mobilisation of local communities during the outbreak, although they were also prone to some of the same weaknesses as local public health efforts.
Ebola- Local Beliefs and Behaviour Change
The Ebola epidemic ravaging parts of West Africa is the most severe acute public health emergency seen in modern times. Never before in recorded history has a biosafety level four pathogen infected so many people so quickly, over such a broad geographical area, for so long’ (Margaret Chan, 26th September 2014, WHO).This report focuses on the local beliefs and practices around illnesses and death, the transmission of disease and spirituality, which affect decision-making around health-seeking behaviour, caring for relatives and the nature of burials. It also considers how this can inform effective behaviour change interventions for preventing Ebola in Sierra Leone. Four key transmission pathways are considered; unsafe burial, not presenting early, care at home and visiting traditional healers.Indigenous beliefs and responses to Ebola are rarely mentioned and when they are images of ignorance, exoticism and superstition are what prevail (Hewlett and Hewlett 2008).
