As of November 4, 2014, the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is confirmed to have infected 13,268 individuals,
with 4,960 total deaths estimated. The global Ebola response is evolving rapidly, and as it has evolved, it has become increasingly apparent that the causes of this epidemic outbreak result from the underdevelopment of local regional healthcare systems, and several initial errors in the global Ebola response that lead to an underdevelopment of emergency response capabilities, and resulted in complications with triage, treatment, community mobilization and engagement, and communications efforts.

The steering committee of the AAA-Wenner Gren Emergency Ebola Response Workshop convened a meeting with policy makers, practitioners, donors, and NGOs involved in the global Ebola response. The goal of this meeting was to consult with a range of partners about their needs and priorities for anthropological guidance. Attendees included: the U.S. Department of Defense, the Center for Disease Control, the Carter Center, the Open Society initiative, the World Bank, UNICEF, the Embassy of Sierra Leone, and representatives from the U.N. Mission for Emergency Ebola Response (UNMEER).

American Anthropological Association et al / 2014