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Ebola: a humanitarian crisis and development wake-up call?

Sources
ODI
Status
Ongoing course

Chair: Wendy Fenton, Humanitarian Practice Network Coordinator

Speakers:

Foday Sawi, Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation, Government of Sierra Leone

**Lisa Denney,**Research Associate, ODI

**Marc DuBois,**former Executive Director of MSF-UK and independent researcher

Theodora Hamilton - Treasurer, 50/50 Group of Sierra Leone

The West African Ebola crisis has claimed over 10,000 lives and exposed deep fractures in the health systems of the three hardest hit countries – Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. National health systems have struggled under the weight of the crisis. International agencies were not only slow to arrive but also took too long to involve communities in the response.

Furthermore, challenges encountered during the humanitarian response, such as community resistance to the authorities’ social mobilisation campaigns, reflect a deep level of citizen mistrust. Populations are suspicious not only of health systems but also of their governments.

Ebola is forcing the international community and affected governments to rethink how health systems can best be supported to withstand such crises, as well as strengthened in the long-term. But how do vulnerable health systems become resilient ones? And how can aid agencies better build trust with affected communities, so as to prevent transmissions during future outbreaks and stop major epidemics happening in the first place?

Co-hosted by the Secure Livelihoods Research Consortium (SLRC) and the Humanitarian Practice Network (HPN), this public event reflected on the Ebola crisis from both humanitarian and development perspectives. The event began with a keynote address by former Sierra Leone’s Deputy Minister of Health and Sanitation, Foday Sawi.

How to Register

Watch the webinar here: https://youtu.be/ceflq2J-Ok4