Paper short abstract:

Liberia was declared Ebola-free on the 9th May 2015, but new cases emerged. People reacted differently on this fact. Often, their reactions were coined by mistrust due to events during the first outbreak and the declaration of the end of the outbreak. Locally appropriate strategies for dealing with new outbreaks despite the weak health care system need to be developed together with the local communities. This paper focuses on some of the reactions on the new cases and reflects on the attempts to assure a long-term awareness even after the new outbreak is declared over.

Paper long abstract:

In Liberia, international organisations continued to engage medical anthropologists after the country was declared free of Ebola on the 9th of May 2015. This paper bases on experiences made during fieldwork immediately afterwards, from the beginning of June to the end of August 2015. Under these circumstances, the medical anthropological task was to deal with “cultural” issues in the aftermath of the epidemic. Many organisations involved in the international Ebola response efforts continued to be confronted with various issues: e.g. the stigmatization of health care workers involved in care during the epidemic as well as of Ebola survivors, or diverse circulating narratives concerning vaccination programmes which had negative effects in the community. After Ebola, clearly for many a time of grief, it becomes possible to ask the following questions: What are the narratives on and about the disease in Liberia after the epidemic? How do people, in immediate retrospective, explain the epidemic with regard to its “origins,” its course and ending, as well as concerning the virus as future threat? And how do these explanations affect the usage and delivery of health care in Liberia, both negatively and positively? From asking these questions, many lessons useful for an immediate (clinical) application in Liberia as well as for future epidemics can be learned. In this case, medical anthropology can be a powerful tool to help rebuilding health care and in re-establishing trust in the population. This paper offers first insights from the field.