Study title

This archive presents: (1) Transcripts of 47 semi-structured interviews and 12 spontaneously occurring focus group discussions, including notes from direct observations and informal discussions conducted throughout the study; (2) transcripts from 9 in-depth interviews with Sierra Leonean volunteers and health responders - including hospital managers, health staff, contact tracers and a journalist coordinating public health messaging - involved in the Ebola Response; (3) transcripts with Ebola survivors attending the Ebola survivor’s clinic at the 34th military hospital and many of whom were involved in emergency clinical research. Following the 2013–2016 outbreak of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in West Africa, governments across the region imposed a ban on the hunting, sale, and consumption of meat from wild animals. Fieldwork was principally conducted in 9 villages in the Eastern and Southern provinces of Sierra Leone Southern Province (Bo, Pujehun, and Moyamba districts) and Eastern Province (Kenema district) of Sierra Leone between August and December 2015 to understand the local reception and impact of these interventions.West Africa is currently experiencing its first and largest outbreak of Ebola haemorrhagic fever (EHF). This epidemic demands immediate public health action and critically, social science expertise. While conducting research in Guinea and neighbouring Sierra Leone on Lassa fever (a related, but endemic haemorragic fever) members of this team were invited by the Guinean Ministry of Environment, Water and Forest, and the Ministry of Health to support Ebola containment efforts, specifically by exploring the forms and social significance of human-animal contact and health systems responses. Over the past months, members of this team have worked closely with NGOs and Government actors, helping to illuminate the primary routes of infection and support efforts to reduce transmission. This project would extend and deepen our initial observations, and...