Marburg virus disease, a haemorrhagic fever, has been identified for the first time in West Africa. On 6 August, health authorities in Guinea confirmed a case in the southern Guéckédou prefecture. This is the same area that recently had an Ebola outbreak, which ended over two months ago.
Infectious disease outbreaks require rapid public health response that include the core principles of context adaptation, community engagement, feedback and learning. Evidence to support such a response has been generated through rigorous social science work on health emergencies over many years.
The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) collaborates with our network of social scientists to provide technical expertise on a range of health crises. Here is a selection of relevant resources in relation to the latest Marburg outbreak:
- Key considerations and roundtable: Ebola outbreak in Guinea, 2021
- Understanding the context of social “resistance” to epidemic response in Guinea
- Death, burial, and funeral rites in the context of an epidemic
- Mitigating the broader negative impacts of targeted epidemic response
SSHAP will mobilise additional social scientific expertise to support the response to the Marburg outbreak, as well as to other emerging public health crises. or join the SSHAP network to collaborate on emerging issues and stay up to date on our work.
