Bookedited by Michiel Hofman and Sokhieng Au.
Summary: The 2014-2015 Ebola epidemic in West Africa was an unprecedented medical and political emergency that cast an unflattering light on multiple corners of government and international response. Fear, not rational planning, appeared to drive many decisions made at population and leadership levels, which in turn brought about a response that was as uneven as it was unprecedented: entire populations were decimated or destroyed, vaccine trials were fast-tracked, health staff died, untested medications were used (or not used) in controversial ways, humanitarian workers returned home to enforced isolation, and military was employed to sometimes disturbing ends. The epidemic revealed serious fault lines at all levels of theory and practice of global public health: national governments were shown to be helpless and unprepared for calamity at this scale; the World Health Organization was roundly condemned for its ineffectiveness; the US quietly created its own African CDC a year after the epidemic began. Amid such chaos, Médecins sans Frontières was forced to act with unprecdented autonomy -- and amid great criticism -- in responding to the disease, taking unprecedented steps in deploying services and advocating for international aid. The Politics of Fear provides a primary documentary resource for recounting and learning from the Ebola epidemic. Comprising eleven topic-based chapters and four eyewitness vignettes from both MSF- and non-MSF-affiliated contributors (all of whom have been given access to MSF Ebola archives from Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia for research), it aims to provide a politically agnostic account of the defining health event of the 21st century so far, one that will hopefully inform current opinions and future responses.
Contents:
Introduction / Michiel Hofman and Sokhieng Au
Doctors against borders / João Nunes
Whose security? / Adia Benton
vignette 1. A few days in July / Lindis Hurum
The "humanitarian" response to the ebola epidemic in Guinea / Jean-Francois Caremel, Sylvain Landry B. Faye, and Ramatou Ouedraogo
The initial international aid response in Sierra Leone / Thomas Kratz
Dying of the mundane in the time of ebola / Mit Philips
vignette 2. Treating, suffering, and surviving ebola
How did Médecins san frontiers negotiate clinical trials of unproven treatments during the 2014-2015 ebola epidemic? / Annette Rid and Annick Antierens
Failing Dr. Khan / Tim O'Dempsey
Finding an answer to ebola's greatest challenge / Armand Sprecher
vignette 3. Children in the ebola treatment centers / Allie Tua Lappia and Patricia Carrick
Fear and containment / Alice Desclaux, Moustapha Diop, and Stéphane Doyon
Challenges of instituting effective medevac policies / Duncan McLean
vignette 4. Returing to the "ebola world" / e Maud Santantonio.