Paper short abstract:

One health interventions are produced at the intersections of health infrastructures and environmental ecology. This paper critically interrogates relationships between crisis and ecology in the constitution of health systems responses to Lassa Fever

Paper long abstract:

This paper draws on research on Lassa fever to explore how knowledge about disease and knowledge about animals shapes health systems infrastructure in global health. The paper explores the mutual constitution of health infrastructure and forms of ecological knowledge about the multimammate rat Mastomys Natalensis. M Natalensis is the rodent host of the Lassa fever, a viral haemorrhagic fever found in West Africa. Health systems infrastructure for managing Lassa fever in Sierra Leone has been profoundly shaped by the recent Ebola outbreak and the earlier Rebel war, each involving complex responses from development and research agencies. At the same these infrastructures have been shaped by scientific and lay forms of ecological knowledge about rat habitats and the location of the virus which have resulted in a highly targeted infrastructure - located primarily in the region around Sierra Leone's third city, Kenema.