Briefings and Guides : Management of the Dead

Do Funerals Spread Ebola?

Some attention has been paid to the alleged role of funerals in spreading Ebola Virus Disease in Upper West Africa.  This has led to attempts to control funerals, causing both distress and active resistance.  Critical examination of the role of the funeral event as a mechanism of Ebola transmission seems in order. In this paper, it is argued that funerals are inseparable from care for the sick, as far as Ebola transmission is concerned.  The focal issue then becomes not control of funerals but reduction Continue reading →

Field situation: How to conduct safe and dignified burial of a patient who has died from suspected or confirmed Ebola virus disease.

WHO has developed a protocol to provide information on the safe management of burial of patients who died from suspected or confirmed Ebola virus disease. These measures should be applied not only by medical personnel but by anyone involved in the management of burial of suspected or confirmed Ebola patients. Twelve steps have been identified describing the different phases Burial Teams have to follow to ensure safe burials, starting from the moment the teams arrive in the village up to their return to the hospital or team headquarters after burial and Continue reading →

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 basis. Key points are given in this policy brief, followed by a more substantial discussion of burial and cultural practices that increase risk of EVD transmission.

Local beliefs and behaviour change for preventing Ebola in Sierra Leone

‘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.  Continue reading →

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. As far as this paper is concerned, there is no single ‘right way’ to comprehend resistance to educators, medics and burial teams, as this is a very complex social phenomenon. The aim instead is to outline the variety of ways in which resistance can be Continue reading →