Published In

Norton Healthcare Medical Journal

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2023

Subjects

Pandemics -- Prevention, Health communication, Ebola virus disease -- West Africa, Social media, Health education -- methods

Abstract

The public health campaign against Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo faced serious challenges, some due to conspiracy theories and denial. These beliefs were so powerful that they even caused repeated attacks upon health care providers and medical centers. These conspiracy theories were nothing new, as they are a common feature of all frightening epidemics, such as HIV and COVID-19. These narratives also circulated during the 2015 West African Ebola outbreak. Addressing conspiracy theories during an epidemic requires a coordinated campaign involving not only local leaders but also the cooperation of social media organizations

Rights

Creative Commons License

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.59541/001c.77445

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40554

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