Community Trust and the Ebola Endgame

Six-year-old Fatou was exposed to Ebola at her uncle’s funeral in Forécariah, a district along Guinea’s border with Sierra Leone where about 50% of all Guinea’s Ebola cases since February 2015 have occurred.¹ Fatou’s entire family was registered as contacts to be monitored for the next 21 days, during which the disease could develop.

A contact tracer began making daily visits to check their temperatures and evaluate them for symptoms. For the first few days, everything seemed fine, but on the fifth day, Fatou was found to have fever and vomiting.

A response team was dispatched to bring her to the Ebola treatment center for testing, but Fatou’s grandmother vehemently refused. “You are going to cut her into pieces!” she screamed. The team tried to reassure her, but to no avail. The grandmother ran outside and called her neighbors. “Help me! They are trying to kill my grandbaby!” A swarm of people from the neighborhood quickly converged on the home. Sensing the anger in the crowd, the response team withdrew to safety.