The Ebola Threat: Culture, Medicine, Authority and Risk

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Considering the severity of Ebola, the disease has become a household name. Although West Africa remains largely affected by the disease, the rate at which Ebola is spreading to different countries has attracted the attention of both political and health sectors across the world. Given the high rate of fatality associated with the disease, most people have formed misconceptions concerning the different aspects underlying Ebola.

However, such misconceptions can be blamed on the failure by health institutions to address the issues that concern the public, as opposed to issuing information that health officers perceive as significant to the institutions. With reference to the United States, the main objective of this paper is to analyze the country’s medical, institutions, and cultural responses to the threat of Ebola. Furthermore, the paper will incorporate medical anthropological analysis of issues, events, and threats as highlighted by the media.

People from different regions have different cultural perspectives concerning the causes and treatment of Ebola. The above sentiment is augmented through the study conducted by Hewlett and Amola in Northern Uganda. According to Hewlett and Amola, “…..different groups of people may interpret the causes of disease and the treatment of illness differently” (353). Hewlett and Amola’s argument accounts for the lack of standardization in the methods of treating Ebola across different regions. Furthermore, culture influences people’s perceptions with respect to controlling the disease and handling infected persons.

In his study of magic and religion, Frazer (44) highlights the various traditional beliefs that account for different behaviors that are depicted by people in the West. Frazer defines contagious magic as “notion that things, which have once been conjoined must remain ever afterwards, even when quite disserved from each other, in such a sympathetic relation that whatever is done to one must similarly affect the other” (43). From Frazer’s sentiments, it is clear that the US operates within the notions of contagious magic with reference to the country’s response to Ebola.

From the current situation, the country works hard to contain Ebola within Africa and avoid the disease from spreading to the US. In his speech concerning the spread of Ebola in the US, President Obama notes that adequate measures have to be implemented to deter the disease from spreading outside the region of West Africa for it means that “the potential spread of the disease beyond these areas in West Africa becomes more imminent” (“The White House” par. 6). President Obama’s sentiments indicate that the Americans associate Ebola as part of West Africa and the disease should be contained within the boundaries of the people it affects.

Furthermore, the country has moved further to send its military troops to contain the situation in West Africa (Yan and Fantz par. 6). Such moves propagate the notion that Americans equate Ebola to terrorism. Although the effects of Ebola can be far reaching as opposed to those of terrorism, the disease can be eliminated through proper medication and dealing with its core causes. The country’s president also highlighted the sentiments of Ebola being a threat to the national security during his speech at the beginning of November where he noted, “As I’ve said from the start of this outbreak, I consider this a top national security priority” (“The White House” par. 7).

Countries across the world should join in the campaign to fight Ebola out of Africa. Fighting the disease from its source entails an efficient means of preventing a contagious disease from spreading to other regions. Although President Obama in his speech highlights that he does not get sufficient support in the fight against Ebola, the US is not implementing enough measures to stop the disease. For example, the US has not established medical centers in Africa, especially in West Africa, to treat Ebola victims. As noted by the officers from the World Health Organization, “the region is still suffering from ‘widespread and intense transmission’ because patients don’t have access to adequate health care” (Yan and Fantz par. 8). However, the US has not responded to these sentiments, but it has continued to establish health facilities within its borders.

However, the witnessed disparate responses towards the issue of Ebola can be attributed to the differences in the perception concerning risk and communicating hazards and risks to the people. Frewer associates perceptions of risk among people to social constructs that shape individuals’ behaviors in relation to their beliefs concerning risk (20). The rampant spread of Ebola in Africa can be associated with the people’s perceptions concerning risk. Hewlett and Amola (358) attributed the cause and spread of Ebola in Northern Uganda to the cultural practices that exposed people to the hazard. Some of the practices included touching the dead despite the prevalence of the deadly Ebola virus.

However, Frewer moves further to highlight that the provision of scientific information can influence people’s perceptions concerning risk and hazards (23). Lack of scientific information concerning Ebola has contributed to the people engaging in cultural practices that have led to the spread of the disease. However, such a trend can be attributed to improper means of risk communication. Furthermore, most Africans maintain risky practices that expose them to hazards with the hope of appeasing spirits to evoke healing. However, such trends and practices entail some form of optimistic bias as highlighted by Frewer (21).

The US has stood against unreal optimism and incorporated better means than Africa to communicate the risk of Ebola to the Americans and the entire world. First, the country has made adequate use of print media through reliable sites and magazines such as the Washington Post and CNN to communicate to the people concerning Ebola. The means through which information is passed to the people influences perceptions concerning responding to risks.

Bennett and Calman cite the trustworthiness of media in communicating risk to the people by noting that messages “are often judged first and foremost not by content, but by source” (4). Furthermore, the US has moved a milestone to provide statistics of the patients of Ebola within the country, although the figuresreveal some discrepancies. For instance, “…Jenkins told CNN that in addition to the 48 people whose quarantine ended Monday, there were 75 health workers being monitored…Rawlings said 120 people were still being monitored” (Yan and Fantz par. 7).

Although the US has implemented exemplary means of communicating information concerning Ebola, it has failed in preventing the spread of the virus into the country in the prior time. Such sentiments are illustrated through the case of a nurse who was allowed to board a plane, despite having high fever, a symptom that is associated with Ebola (“ABC News” par. 4). From the death of Duncan, a person may question how the patient managed to get into the US without health officers diagnosing the disease (Izadi par. 8). Such cases highlight the prevalence of laxity among the health officers in different points of entry such as airports. Furthermore, the United States admittedthat it had implemented strict rules to cover the gap during screening (Berman par. 8).

According to the statistics, the rate of survival for Ebola patients in the US is higher than that of patients in Africa. According to the WHO, thousands of deaths have been reported in West Africa, whereas less than ten deaths have been reported in the US (Yan and Fantz par. 9). However, this trend can be associated with improper utilization of themedical gaze in which doctors compound the natural and clinical aspects of the cause of the disease when treating patients.

In the US, doctors isolate patients and administer biomedical techniques in the treatment process. However, there is a need to embrace cultural competency through adjusting clinical expectations to incorporate variations in cultural practices (Harvey 581).The US practices universality in its care to patients of Ebola, hence the success of medication to the Americans as they lack cultural variations to observe during treatment.

The issue of Ebola has elicited reaction from different leaders across the globe. Although the US has tried to prevent the virus from spreading into the country, it has failed to fight the source of theepidemic. Unlike in Africa, the US has used relevant means to communicate to the people, hence deterring them from indulging in risky practices that expose them to contracting the virus. However, the universality attached to the country’s biomedical techniques in treating Ebola requires cultural competency to accommodate patients with a variety of cultural practices.

Works Cited

ABC News: Nurse who contracted Ebola called CDC before flight. 2014. Web.

Bennett, Peter, and Kenneth Calman. Risk communication and public health, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999. Print.

Berman, Mark. “All travelers from countries with Ebola must now fly through U.S. airports with stricter screening.”The Washington Post 2014. Web.

Frazer, James. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996. Print.

Frewer, Lynn. “Public risk perception and risk communication.”Risk Communication and Public Health. Ed. Peter Bennett and Kenneth Calman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 20 -32. Print.

Harvey, Timothy. “Where there is no patient: an anthropological treatment of a biomedical category.”Culture, Medicine, and Psychiatry 32.4(2008): 577-606. Print.

Hewlett, Barry, and Richard Amola. “Cultural contexts of Ebola in Northern Uganda.”Emerging Infectious Diseases 9.10 (2003):354-362. Print.

Izad, Elahe. “Why wasn’t this person wearing protective gear during Ebola patient’s transfer?”The Washington Post, 2014. Web.

The White House:Remarks by the President after meeting on Ebola. 2014. Web.

Yan, Holly, and Ashley Fantz. “CDC issues new hospital guidance for Ebola.”CNN. 2014. Web.

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The Ebola Threat: Culture, Medicine, Authority and Risk

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