PMC:7100305 / 31341-33329 JSONTXT

{"target":"https://pubannotation.org/docs/sourcedb/PMC/sourceid/7100305","sourcedb":"PMC","sourceid":"7100305","source_url":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/7100305","text":"Credibility of Evidence Informing Response Pathways\nThe legitimacy and authority of the producer of evidence determines its credibility. Theoretically, the evidence used to guide response pathways during an epidemic should be credible by these measures. Most of the literature reviewed alluded to the fact that the evidence used to inform the responses during the Ebola epidemic in Liberia was inadequate, leading to a critique of global organizations’ responses. For example, some analysts argued that the epidemiological studies necessary to identify the source of Ebola virus were insufficient, leading to the ongoing emergence of the epidemic (Davies and Rushton 2016). Furthermore, the United Nation’s Security Council was criticized for not using the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) to its full capacity in responding to the Ebola epidemic in addition to accusations of an overdue response (Roemer-Mahler and Rushton 2016).\nThe disorganized and delayed response has been labeled a global health governance failure by Roemer-Mahler and Rushton (2016) who argue that “the outbreak was not only a global health problem but also a global political problem” (p. 374) (Siegel 2015). Siegel (2015) echoes a similar criticism in noting that development aid was used in contexts with insufficient infrastructures for the aid to be effective and focused too heavily on issues unrelated to Ebola (Nunes 2016). The international responses are argued to be far too short term, framing the Ebola epidemic as an African, and therefore racialized problem (Jones 2011), leading to global neglect of the disease. This scholarly evaluation of global responses to the Ebola virus politicizes the epidemic, calling into question the evidence used to inform response pathways, which were largely insufficient and inappropriate for the Liberian context. More credible sources of evidence would have considered the urgency of Ebola and the unique sociopolitical context in which it was spreading.","divisions":[{"label":"Title","span":{"begin":0,"end":51}}],"tracks":[]}