Communitarian societies and public engagement in public health

Abstract

For effective public health interventions in communitarian societies, public engagement must reflect cultural values that focus on preserving collectives, rather than individuals. The case of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa is used to reflect on the drivers and consequences of failure to incorporate local knowledge, local leaders and local ethical values in the adaption of programmes from elsewhere.

Keywords:

• West Africa
• communitarian
• ethics
• Ebola
• participation

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of Hayley Macgregor, Ann Kelly, Catherine Montgomery and Kristin Peterson who helped shape our thoughts and gave useful comments and suggestions as we developed this paper.