Evolution of Community engagement in the fight against Ebola

Community engagement is one of the most effective approaches to the fight against Ebola. It has been shown to be effective in other contexts and was implemented in Guinea for two years to reduce the spread of the Ebola Outbreak. This article is based on a qualitative approach combining several data collection methods over a nine-month period in the field : series of formal and informal interviews, participating observations, focus groups, comment meetings, analysis of reports and follow-up of news on the Ebola Outbreak. These methods are designed to more effectively describe community engagement in the fight against Ebola in Guinea. Communities were initially subjected to coercive methods of prevention and control of Ebola and were stigmatized. This context subsequently led to two forms of resistance from communities in relation to the actors of prevention : passive and active resistance. The course of the epidemic and the determination of the mediators finally succeeded in involving the communities in the fight against Ebola, which therefore effectively contributed to the end of the epidemic. These results demonstrate that, as during other epidemics and in other contexts, communities are not passive stakeholders in the fight against Ebola. They can be actively involved based on their knowledge, but also the attitudes of other actors involved in the fight against VME.