Ebola in West Africa - Guinea: Resistance to the Ebola Response

The recent Ebola epidemic in West Africa has been characterised by incidents of resistance to the response. In several areas these incidents have been violent and this has impacted humanitarian access to certain communities. At times humanitarian actors have had to temporarily suspend their activities because of insecurity. Liberia and Sierra Leone have also reported resistance, but it has been much more frequent and violent in Guinea.

There is a complex network of underlying causes. Some were factors dating from before the outbreak, which have been exacerbated during the epidemic. Others are factors at play specifically because of the nature of the outbreak and the response. This report aims to analyse the resistance to the Ebola response in Guinea, by outlining the current situation and the evolution over the course of the outbreak, and exploring underlying and aggravating factors.