@article{ref1,
title="Germs, guns, and fear in disaster response: a rapid qualitative assessment to understand fear-based responses in the population at large: lessons from Sierra Leone 2014-2015",
journal="Disaster medicine and public health preparedness",
year="2022",
author="Nally, Cora P. and Van de Voorde, Patrick and Temmerman, Marleen and Adam, Mary",
volume="ePub",
number="ePub",
pages="ePub-ePub",
abstract="We set out to assess the feasibility of community-focused randomized qualitative assessment at the start of an emergency to identify the root causes of fear-based responses driving the pandemic. We used key informant interviews, focus group discussions, reviewing of government and non-government organization documents, combined with direct field observation. Data were recorded and analyzed for key-themes: (1) lack of evidence-based information about Ebola; (2) lack of support to quarantined families; (3) culturally imbedded practices of caring for ill family members; (4) strong feeling that the government would not help them, and the communities needed to help themselves: (5) distrust of nongovernmental organizations and Ebola treatment centers that the communities viewed as opportunistic. On-the-ground real-time engagement with stakeholders provided deep insight into fear-based-responses during the Ebola epidemic, formed a coherent understanding of how they drove the epidemic, presenting an alternative to the standard disaster-response United Nations-strategy, producing community-driven solutions with local ownership.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1935-7893",
doi="10.1017/dmp.2021.358",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2021.358"
}