Trust, Communication Critical In Fight Against Ebola In West Africa, Researchers Say

Baltimore Sun: Public health experts stress importance of trust in West Africa as they fight Ebola
“When public health workers began canvassing West African villages this spring and summer warning of something called Ebola, they were met with fear — but not of the deadly virus. … Residents said the outbreak was a scheme to collect aid money, or even to collect body parts. … It wasn’t until they saw Ebola’s death toll that residents began to trust health workers. But if that trust had been in place when the virus first appeared, the outbreak, which has killed 5,000 people this year, might have gone differently, according to [Timothy] Roberton and Hopkins colleagues, who evaluated the outbreak response for the Red Cross…” (Dance, 11/17).

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