Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Key Messages Despite improvements in care management with the development of a new Ebola vaccine and therapeutics, survivorship is still low (between 40% and 50%) in recent outbreaks due to low community acceptance of these lifesaving interventions. During an outbreak, the top-down strategy of control measures prioritizing case detection and management over risk communication and community engagement fails to address public concerns about the disease and available interventions, such as vaccines and therapeutics. When the outbreak is over, the intense level of outbreak response activities ends abruptly and activities that maintain community awareness and engagement rarely continue, fueling communities' feelings of mistrust and abandonment. In high-risk communities for Ebola outbreaks, it is important that external partners work with the local communities to maintain Ebola preparedness activities between Ebola outbreaks. The continuous engagement with these communities will improve their acceptance of the existence of the disease and their adherence to response activities and interventions, such as vaccines and therapeutics, during the next Ebola outbreak. This better adherence can improve survivorship in these communities during the next Ebola outbreak.
Soke et al. (Wed,) studied this question.