The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia

Abstract Background There has been little research on the impact of the 2014-2015 West African Ebola crisis on people with disabilities. This paper outlines the way in which the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia in 2015 highlighted existing inequalities and exclusion of people with disab...

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Autores principales:	Maria Kett, Ellie Cole, Lucila Beato, Mark Carew, Richard Ngafuan, Sekkoh Konneh, Tim Colbourn
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	BMC 2021
Materias:	Ebola people with disabilities Liberia infectious diseases inclusion Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/41da0db3ac22444e8a6692cff3ebf96c
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:41da0db3ac22444e8a6692cff3ebf96c2021-11-28T12:13:06ZThe Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia10.1186/s12939-021-01580-61475-9276https://doaj.org/article/41da0db3ac22444e8a6692cff3ebf96c2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-021-01580-6https://doaj.org/toc/1475-9276Abstract Background There has been little research on the impact of the 2014-2015 West African Ebola crisis on people with disabilities. This paper outlines the way in which the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia in 2015 highlighted existing inequalities and exclusion of people with disabilities and their households. Methods The results presented here are part of a larger ESRC/DFID-funded mixed methods research project in Liberia (2014-2017) which included a quantitative household survey undertaken in five counties, complemented by qualitative focus group discussions and interviews with people with disabilities and other key stakeholders. Uniquely, this research gathered information about people with disabilities’ experience of the EVD outbreak, as well as additional socioeconomic and inclusion data, that compared their experience with non-disabled community members. Results Reflections by people with disabilities themselves show knowledge, preparation, and responses to the EVD epidemic was often markedly different among people with disabilities due to limited resources, lack of inclusion by many mainstream public health and medical interventions and pre-existing discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion. Interviews with other key stakeholder revealed a lack of awareness of disability issues or sufficient training to include this population systematically in both Ebola response activities and general health services. Key findings include the need to understand and mitigate direct and indirect health consequences of unequal responses to the epidemic, as well as the limited capacity of healthcare and social services to respond to people with disabilities. Conclusion There are lessons to be learned from Ebola outbreak around inclusion of people with disabilities, relevant to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time to undertake measures to ensure that people with disabilities do not continue to be marginalised and excluded during global public health emergencies.Maria KettEllie ColeLucila BeatoMark CarewRichard NgafuanSekkoh KonnehTim ColbournBMCarticleEbolapeople with disabilitiesLiberiainfectious diseasesinclusionPublic aspects of medicineRA1-1270ENInternational Journal for Equity in Health, Vol 20, Iss 1, Pp 1-15 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Ebola people with disabilities Liberia infectious diseases inclusion Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270
spellingShingle	Ebola people with disabilities Liberia infectious diseases inclusion Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Maria Kett Ellie Cole Lucila Beato Mark Carew Richard Ngafuan Sekkoh Konneh Tim Colbourn The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia
description	Abstract Background There has been little research on the impact of the 2014-2015 West African Ebola crisis on people with disabilities. This paper outlines the way in which the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in Liberia in 2015 highlighted existing inequalities and exclusion of people with disabilities and their households. Methods The results presented here are part of a larger ESRC/DFID-funded mixed methods research project in Liberia (2014-2017) which included a quantitative household survey undertaken in five counties, complemented by qualitative focus group discussions and interviews with people with disabilities and other key stakeholders. Uniquely, this research gathered information about people with disabilities’ experience of the EVD outbreak, as well as additional socioeconomic and inclusion data, that compared their experience with non-disabled community members. Results Reflections by people with disabilities themselves show knowledge, preparation, and responses to the EVD epidemic was often markedly different among people with disabilities due to limited resources, lack of inclusion by many mainstream public health and medical interventions and pre-existing discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion. Interviews with other key stakeholder revealed a lack of awareness of disability issues or sufficient training to include this population systematically in both Ebola response activities and general health services. Key findings include the need to understand and mitigate direct and indirect health consequences of unequal responses to the epidemic, as well as the limited capacity of healthcare and social services to respond to people with disabilities. Conclusion There are lessons to be learned from Ebola outbreak around inclusion of people with disabilities, relevant to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time to undertake measures to ensure that people with disabilities do not continue to be marginalised and excluded during global public health emergencies.
format	article
author	Maria Kett Ellie Cole Lucila Beato Mark Carew Richard Ngafuan Sekkoh Konneh Tim Colbourn
author_facet	Maria Kett Ellie Cole Lucila Beato Mark Carew Richard Ngafuan Sekkoh Konneh Tim Colbourn
author_sort	Maria Kett
title	The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia
title_short	The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia
title_full	The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia
title_fullStr	The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia
title_full_unstemmed	The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia
title_sort	ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in liberia
publisher	BMC
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/41da0db3ac22444e8a6692cff3ebf96c
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The Ebola crisis and people with disabilities’ access to healthcare and government services in Liberia

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