CGPH FACULTY: Jason Corburn
DATE OF PUBLICATION: February 2015
REGION: Africa
REFERENCE: Marais F, Minkler M, Gibson N, Mwau B, Mehtar S, Ogunsola F, Banya SS, Corburn J. A community-engaged infection prevention and control approach to Ebola. Health Promot Int. 2015 Feb 12. pii: dav003.
SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: The real missing link in Ebola control efforts to date may lie in the failure to apply core principles of health promotion: the early, active and sustained engagement of affected communities, their trusted leaders, networks and lay knowledge, to help inform what local control teams do, and how they may better do it, in partnership with communities. Drawing on the experience of local experts in several African nations and of community-engaged health promotion leaders in the USA, Canada and WHO, we present an eight step model, from entering communities with cultural humility, though reciprocal learning and trust, multi-method communication, development of the joint protocol, to assessing progress and outcomes and building for sustainability. Using examples of changes that are culturally relevant yet maintain safety, we illustrate how often minor adjustments can help prevent and treat the most serious emerging infectious disease since HIV/AIDS.
ACCESS: Link to Pubmed