What lessons can the history of Ebola in West Africa offer as we face the COVID-19 pandemic?

The full show transcript is available on our website: https://history.wisc.edu/ask-a-historian/

As we face the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic, the past can shed some light on our moment of crisis. We speak with Professor Gregg Mitman about the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. How did people’s faith in or mistrust of their government shape the trajectory of the epidemic? What lessons can the history of Ebola offer in the context of COVID-19?

Gregg tells us about the long history of capitalism, politics, ecology, and medicine behind Liberia’s Ebola outbreak. He reflects on the unique geopolitical challenges of our current moment and the ways COVID-19 confronts racist Western assumptions about disease. Finally, he underscores the vital importance of building trust in order to successfully stem an epidemic.

Episode links: 

Gregg Mitman and Sarita Siegel co-directed and co-produced the 2015 documentary film In the Shadow of Ebola: http://intheshadowofebola.com/film 

Gregg's article in the New England Journal of Medicine is“Ebola in a Stew of Fear": https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1411244?query=featured_home

David Mwambari’s article “The pandemic can be a catalyst for decolonisation in Africa”: https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/pandemic-catalyst-decolonisation-africa-200415150535786.html

Robtel Neajai Pailey’s “Africa does not need saving during this pandemic": https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/africa-saving-pandemic-200408180254152.html

Our music is Pamgaea by Kevin MacLeod. Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/4193-pamgaea CC BY 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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