Infectious Disease: Mobilizing Ebola Survivors to Curb the Epidemic

December 17, 2014

(Nature) – While foreign assistance must continue, a nascent local strategy is a candidate for broad adoption. We call it MORE, for MObilization of REcovered individuals. The idea is simple: those who have recovered from Ebola could be engaged to reduce transmission, helping to bring the epidemic under control. Examples of the approach can be seen in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia. For instance, the UN is training survivors to support children who have had contact with infected individuals and are within Ebola’s 21-day incubation window (the time it takes to develop symptoms after being infected with the virus). MSF is similarly employing survivors to work in their Ebola treatment units in Guinea and Liberia.