The Ebola Pandemic in Sierra Leone (eBook)

John Idriss Lahai is an applied development studies scholar. He earned his PhD from the University of New England, Australia. Prior to joining Flinders University, Australia, as Visiting Research Fellow in the School of International Relations, he was an independent consultant with extensive experience working for think tanks and governments in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere. He is editor of African Frontiers: Insurgency, Governance and Peacebuilding in Postcolonial States (2015) and author of Gender in Practice: Culture, Politics and Society in Sierra Leone (forthcoming).

1. Introduction1.1 ‘What The Death of ‘Patient Zero’ Taught Us?’1.2 Significance of the Book1.3 Methodological Considerations1.4 Structure of the Book2. The Ebola Pandemic: Meaning, Origins, and the Pathways of Eruption and Spread2.1 Meaning: What is Ebola?2.2 Historical Origins: From The Congo to Sierra Leone2.3 Ebola in Sierra Leone: The Social and Political Pathways of Eruption and Spread2.3.1 The Lack of an Effective Health Sector2.3.2 The Kenema Laboratory/Kenema Hospital2.3.3 Corruption in the Public Health Sector2.3.4 Cultural Belief Systems and Traditional Medical Alternatives2.3.5 Migration and The Environment, and Their Health Consequences3. Representations: Between Uncertainty, Epistemology, and Political Dominance3.1 Local Representations3.2 International Representations4. Interventions: How Actors Mediated Between and Honored Humanitarian Action, Political Interests, and Medical Scientific Knowledge4.1 The Government of Sierra Leone4.2 The World Health Organisation 4.3 Mèdecins sans Frontierès4.4 The United Nations Mission for Ebola Emergency Response (UNMEER)4.5 The United States of America4.6 Great Britain4.7 Aspen Medical of Australia4.8 China4.9 Cuba5. The Aftermath: The Proposed Pathway to Public Health Recovery 2015-20205.1 From the Abyss and on the Road to Recovery 5.2 Financing The Health Sector for an Effective Post-Ebola Public Health Sector governance6. Conclusions