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Quarantine and Its Malcontents: How Liberians Responded to the Ebola Epidemic Containment Measures | Journal Article / Research | MSF Science Portal
Journal Article
|Research

Quarantine and Its Malcontents: How Liberians Responded to the Ebola Epidemic Containment Measures

Pellecchia U

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Abstract
AbstractThis article examines how populations affected by the Ebola epidemic in Liberia reacted to the implementation of mandatory, state-imposed quarantine as a way of curtailing transmission. The ethnography, based on in-depth fieldwork in both urban and rural areas, shows how mandatory quarantine caused severe social consequences for both people’s perceptions of epidemic control and their health-seeking behaviours. The authoritarian imposition of this public-health measure soon became a driver of social fear that contributed to the divide between institutions and population, jeopardising the control of transmission. Its implementation overshadowed more acceptable local quarantine measures that communities were organising to protect themselves from transmission. The analysis argues that quarantine in Liberia was counterproductive and suggests alternatives to epidemic control rooted in social acceptance and local practices.

Countries

Liberia

Subject Area

Ebola

Languages

English
DOI
10.3167/aia.2017.240203
Published Date
01 Jun 2017
Journal
Anthropology in Action
Volume | Issue | Pages
Volume 24, Issue 2
Issue Date
2017-06-01
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