Countries’ response to WHO’s travel recommendations during the 2013–2016 Ebola outbreak

OBJECTIVE: To determine how, during the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak in western Africa, States Parties to the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) followed the IHR's international travel recommendations. METHODS: In 2015, we used the Google search engine to investigate the 196 States Parties to the 2005 IHR. Information detailing Ebola-related travel regulations or restrictions of each State Party was sourced first from official government websites and then from travel and news websites. When limited, conflicting or no relevant information was found on a government website, an email inquiry was sent to a corresponding embassy in an Anglophone country. FINDINGS: = 1). CONCLUSION: In responding to the 2013-2016 Ebola outbreak, countries had variable levels of adoption of the 2005 IHR's international travel recommendations. We identified 58 (31.0%) States Parties that exceeded or disregarded the recommendations. There is a need for more research to understand and minimize deviations from such recommendations.