Social Sciences in Emerging Infectious Disease: The Ebola Disease Response

Abstract

Emerging infectious disease outbreaks are increasingly prevalent, and the need to develop or strengthen existing health systems to effectively respond to a global health threat has become more apparent. Moreover, it has become clear the critical role social science research plays in exploring human behavior, cultural, social, and political economic forces that are equally important to inform emerging infectious disease response and recovery. This chapter discusses the role of social science research in infectious disease outbreaks, looking at benefits and current barriers. It further considers Ebola as a e study to illustrate how social science research approaches are used to explain the cultural, social, and political economic forces that explain community response and inform public health response to recent Ebola outbreaks in Western and Eastern Africa. Specifically, it discusses issues surrounding the origin of the Ebola virus, community beliefs and understanding of Ebola virus disease, surveillance, burial practices, the influence of politics and conflict on Ebola response efforts, vaccine hesitancy and Ebola survivorship relating to community stigma, as well as discrimination and health-seeking behavior. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.