Ebola outbreak in Guinea
The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform is supporting partners responding to the current outbreak of Ebola in Guinea.
This page collates information relevant to the current outbreak including newly developed materials and pertinent documents from the 2014-2016 outbreak.
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Photo credit: UNICEF/UNI177680
On 14 January, a woman helps a young boy wash his hands in disinfecting chlorine solution, at their home in Conakry, the capital.
By 14 January 2015, Guinea remained one of three countries suffering intense and widespread transmission of Ebola virus disease (EVD). To date, the country had endured 2,806 cumulative cases (confirmed, probable and suspected), resulting in 1,814 deaths. An estimated 4.1 million children are living in areas affected by the virus, while 564 children and youth aged up to 20 years have themselves become infected. Despite these obstacles, in the week leading up to 14 January, the country reported its lowest weekly total of new confirmed Ebola virus disease (EVD) cases since the week ending 17 August 2014. UNICEF, together with partners, continues to provide vital support across multiple sectors, including communication for development (C4D), including efforts to raise awareness of the disease and effect behavioural changes that help halt its spread; health and nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene; child protection; and education.
Briefings
Key Considerations: 2021 Outbreak of Ebola in Guinea, the Context of N’Zérékoré
Key considerations about the social, political and economic context shaping the outbreak of Ebola in the N’Zérékoré prefecture, Guinea.
Briefings
SSHAP Roundtable: 2021 Ebola Outbreak in Guinea
At the time of writing there have been 18 cases, 9 deaths and 6 recoveries.
Evidence Reviews
Lessons Learned from 2014–2016 Ebola Outbreak in Guinea: A Review of RCCE Related Publications
A review of 46 published reports of Ebola-related activities undertaken during the 2013–2016 outbreak in Guinea
Case Studies
Balancing Burial Rituals with Public Health Demands During the 2014 Guinean Ebola Epidemic
Case study addressing resistance to Ebola response measures
Briefings
Social Stigma Compounds Desperate Poverty of Guinea’s Ebola Survivors
Shunned by their communities and unable to work, female survivors of Ebola in Guinea face profound hardship as they try to care for their families.
Briefings
Healers Cure Mistrust in Guinea’s Health System after Horrors of Ebola
Practitioners of traditional medicine – the first port of call for 80% of Guineans – could be invaluable in helping fight other killer diseases, such as malaria.
Background Reports
Comparison of Social Resistance to Ebola Response in Sierra Leone and Guinea Suggests Explanations Lie in Political Configurations not Culture
Instead of looking to 'culture' to explain patterns of social resistance (as was common in the media and in the discourse of responding public health authorities) a comparison between Sierra Leone and Guinea suggests that explanations lie in divergent political…
Briefings
Guinea: Reopening Schools Safely – Partnering with Families and Communities
After many months of prolonged closure due to fear of Ebola transmission, schools have reopened in Guinea last month. WHO and partners have played a crucial role in preparing schools to open their doors to students.
Briefings
Helping Guinean Communities Fight Ebola
Through household visits, a presence on prefecture streets and conversations with influential members of key community groups, surveillance teams are spreading the message about Ebola and providing support to families
Briefings
Ebola in West Africa Guinea: Resistance to the Ebola Response
Resistance to the Ebola response has been more widespread and more severe in Guinea, than in Liberia and Sierra Leone, with sometimes violent incidents. This is due to a complex interaction of many factors, including underlying causes and the nature…
Briefings
Working with Communities in Gueckedou for Better Understanding of Ebola
International partners are supporting Gueckedou health authorities to implement response actions. Médecins Sans Frontières has established a treatment centre and ensures the transport of suspected cases.
Background Reports
The Social Dynamics of Infant Immunisation in Africa: Perspectives from the Republic of Guinea
Infant immunisation is currently a focus of national and global policy attention in relation to Africa as a key means to address ill-health and contribute to the Millennium Development Goals. Yet vaccination coverage is stagnant or falling in many African…
Evidence Reviews
Understanding Social Resistance to Ebola Response in Guinea
This paper seeks to understand the fear many Guineans feel towards Ebola response initiatives and why the educators, doctors and burial teams have sometimes encountered resistance, occasionally violent.
Evidence Reviews
Communication with Rebellious Communities during an Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea: An Anthropological Approach
This paper by Anoko J. N., reports on the success of a communication programme among 26 rebellious villages in Forest Guinea during fieldwork in June-July 2014.
Case Studies
‘Resistance’ in Guinea
The following key considerations have been collated from the suggestions and insights provided by over twenty-five anthropologists and social-behavioural scientists (based in West Africa and internationally) who answered an on-line call to provide guidance and operational recommendations in relation to…
Briefings
Emergency Ebola Anthropology Network Advisory Brief: Culture and Clinical Trials
This advisory brief aims to provide anthropologically informed guidance to governmental and humanitarian actors involved in the Ebola response at local, national and international levels, about clinical trials for Ebola treatments, therapies and vaccines.
Briefings
The significance of death, funerals and the after-life in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia: Anthropological insights into infection and social resistance
The aim of this briefing paper is to consider the various ways in which widely reported fear and resistance to the Ebola response can be understood, and what each way of understanding offers to those battling with the current epidemic.
Briefings
Regional food insecurity, work migration and roadblocks
This brief summarises some key considerations about food insecurity, the migration of men and youth for work and the implication these movements may have for the Ebola response.
Briefings
The flow of money at the community level
This brief summarises some key considerations about the flow and control of money in relation to the Ebola response.
Briefings
Burial/Other Cultural Practices and Risk of EVD Transmission in the Mano River Region
While this briefing note identifies arenas of particular significance with regard to burial practices, such practices are not standardised, are likely to change as social responses to Ebola evolve, and therefore need to be discussed on a locality by locality…
Case Studies
Les Gens du Riz (The Rice People) Kissi Funerals in the region of Guekedou and Kissidougou
This is a chapter on Kissi Funerals in the region of Guekedou and Kissidougou. Whilst this is based on fieldwork conducted in 1945-6, many of the ritual practices and meanings were current and observed in Kissi villages in 1991-3.
Briefings
Ebola and Older People in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea
The limited evidence available on age-disaggregated fatality rates of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) consistently highlights the poor survival rates of older people compared with young adults.
Briefings
Beyond a Public Health Emergency: Potential Secondary Humanitarian Impacts of a Large-Scale Ebola Outbreak
This report documents the secondary humanitarian problems and impacts of largescale Ebola outbreak on the different humanitarian sectors
Case Studies
Ebola outbreak in West Africa: Challenges to the reintegration of affected groups into communities
This report outlines the key challenges that Ebola survivors and their households, grieving families, orphans, quarantined people and frontline workers face as they reintegrate into their communities
Briefings
Ebola outbreak in West Africa 22 months: on Key issues for recovery and preparedness
While surveillance and treatment efforts to stop the transmission and re-emergence of Ebola continue, the response is moving away from its emergency phase towards longer-term recovery and building a more resilient health system.
Briefings
WASH in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone: The Impact of Ebola
This document summarises the baseline data on WASH available for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
Case Studies
Ebola in West Africa: Guinea: Resistance to the Ebola Response
This report aims to analyse the resistance to the Ebola response in Guinea, by outlining the current situation and the evolution over the course of the outbreak, and exploring underlying and aggravating factors.
Case Studies
Ebola in West Africa: Impact on Health Systems
Fear of contracting EVD and mistrust of the health system has made people reluctant to seek treatment from health facilities, further impacting the health sector and increasing the risk of mortality and morbidity from otherwise treatable diseases.
Briefings
Ebola in West Africa: Potential Impact on Food Security
A multidimensional and multi-sector approach is required to contain the outbreak of Ebola while safeguarding against a long-term food security crisis.
Briefings
Ebola in West Africa: Protection and Security
The lack of a prompt, robust, and efficient response to Ebola from the international community contributes to lack of trust in governments and exacerbates social tensions, increasing the possibility of profound unrest in these fragile countries.
Briefings
Ebola in West Africa: Impact on Health
The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is by far the largest ever recorded, and already numbers more cases than all past Ebola epidemics combined. This Briefing outlines the overall impact on health.
