CITATION: Iwu C, Iwu-Jaja C, Patrick S et al.
The recurring Ebola virus disease outbreaks in Africa: the problem is not outbreak response, but failure to sustain preparedness between epidemics
eClinicalMedicine, 2026; 97
EXTRACTS
Community trust is often rebuilt during outbreaks and neglected once they end, allowing distrust, misinformation, stigma, and fears surrounding isolation or burial practices to re-emerge during subsequent epidemics. Community engagement should be sustained between outbreaks rather than activated only during emergencies...
The challenge is not the absence of technical knowledge but the failure to institutionalize and finance preparedness as a permanent public health function in the country...
A roadmap for action to strengthen Ebola preparedness and prevent recurrent outbreaks in Africa. Continuous investment in preparedness, grounded in communities and science would help prevent the next Ebola outbreak.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org