Ebola and COVID-19 in Sierra Leone: comparative lessons of epidemics for society

AbstractThis case study focuses on two epidemic diseases in Sierra Leone. Ebola in 2014–15 drew international response, but was contained within the Upper West African region. COVID-19 reached Sierra Leone in April 2020 as part of a global pandemic. Local social knowledge has been an important factor in shaping responses to both diseases. In the case of Ebola, infection was concentrated in families, and responders needed a good knowledge of family interactional dynamics. COVID-19 is a more public disease. Responders have to assess risk factors in workplaces, markets, and places of worship. Comparing and contrasting the two cases also draws attention to different aspects of the historical context. Ebola response indexes Sierra Leone’s history as a humanitarian project associated with the abolition of the slave trade. The pandemic challenge of COVID-19 draws attention to Sierra Leone’s nodal position within a global diaspora rooted in Atlantic slavery and emancipation. Responders are forced to consider the ways in which the two infections articulate different aspects of calls for global social justice.

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The Puzzling Paradox Presented within the African Supranational Judicial Institutions: The ECOWAS Court of Justice

African Journal of International and Comparative Law ◽

10.3366/ajicl.2020.0333 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 28 (Supplement) ◽

pp. 86-109

Author(s):

Kehinde Ibrahim

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

West African ◽

African Region ◽

The West ◽

Political Will ◽

National Courts ◽

Court Of Justice ◽

West African Region

The judgments of the ECOWAS Court, which are final and immediately binding, are vital for the realisation of ECOWAS aims and objectives. The enforcement of its judgments is particularly important in the case of individuals whose enjoyment of fundamental human rights, as guaranteed under the ECOWAS Community laws, is dependent on effective enforcement. Yet, an existential puzzling paradox emanates through a poor record in the implementation of the ECOWAS Court's judgments. This problem, which is not limited to the West African region deserves scrutiny and concrete proposals. Legal and political considerations surface in assessing the existence of this paradox, and despite the lack of a consistent political will, to implement the decisions of ECOWAS Court relevant judicial actors have roles to play. National courts could take a bolder approach in complementing the work of the ECOWAS Court. The ECOWAS Court itself could put in place concrete mechanisms and adopt certain practices to address this poor record of non-implementation. It is yet to be seen how substantive mechanisms would work in practice.

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The AMMA field campaigns: multiscale and multidisciplinary observations in the West African region

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society ◽

10.1002/qj.486 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 136 (S1) ◽

pp. 8-33 ◽

Cited By ~ 117

Author(s):

T. Lebel ◽

D. J. Parker ◽

C. Flamant ◽

B. Bourlès ◽

B. Marticorena ◽

...

Keyword(s):

West African ◽

African Region ◽

The West ◽

West African Region ◽

Field Campaigns

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Foreign Direct Investment in the West African Region: Analyses on the Values of Inflow and Outflow

Risk and Financial Management ◽

10.30560/rfm.v2n1p15 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. p15

Author(s):

Yeboah Evans ◽

Yu Jing

Keyword(s):

Foreign Direct Investment ◽

Direct Investment ◽

Developed Countries ◽

West African ◽

Least Developed Countries ◽

Outward Fdi ◽

African Region ◽

The West ◽

Investment Policies ◽

West African Region

With regards to the ongoing development in investment activities in the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) and the entire African continent is because of institutional reforms and initiation of sound investment policies. Foreign direct investment(FDI) inflow and outflow severs as a source of capital formation for most developing and least developed countries. This paper provides an overview and analyses of the flow of FDI to the ECOWAS region by considering 16 nations under this region in determining their performance towards FDI attraction and their contribution to outward FDI across the globe by the use of the quantitative method. The outcome shows that there is a continuous decline in FDI inflow to the ECOWAS region over the past 10 years. The result also proves that Ghana and Nigeria are the major recipients of foreign direct investment inflows in the West African region. The result further indicates that Nigeria is the major contributor of outward FDI from the ECOWAS region. It is recommended that the region should increase its outward FDI.

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Sensitivity of the West African hydrological cycle in ORCHIDEE to infiltration processes

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions ◽

10.5194/hessd-5-2251-2008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 2251-2292 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

T. d'Orgeval ◽

J. Polcher ◽

P. de Rosnay

Keyword(s):

Hydrological Cycle ◽

Equatorial Region ◽

West African ◽

Surface Model ◽

African Region ◽

Deep Soil ◽

The West ◽

West African Region ◽

Semi Arid ◽

Infiltration Processes

Abstract. The aim of this article is to test the sensitivity of the Land Surface Model (LSM) ORCHIDEE to infiltration processes in the West African region, and to validate the resulting version of ORCHIDEE against African river discharges. The parameterizations to take into account the effects of flat areas, ponds and floodplains on surface infiltration, and the effect of roots and deep-soil compactness on infiltration are first described. It is shown that the surface infiltration processes have a stronger impact in the soudano-sahelian region and more generally in semi-arid African basins, whereas the rootzone and deep-soil infiltration also play a role in the guinean region and in the intermediate basins between arid and humid ones. In the equatorial region and the semi-humid basins, infiltration processes generally play a minor role. The infiltration parameterizations may explain part of the difference between simulated and observed river discharge in semi-arid and intermediate basins. So ORCHIDEE could be recalibrated to reduce the discharge errors. However, different sources of uncertainty might also explain part of the error. Indeed, the precipitation forcing in the whole West African region, the long-term storage in the soudano-sahelian region, the soil types in the guinean region and the vegetation types in the equatorial region are significant sources of errors. Therefore, a denser monitoring of the hydrological cycle at different scales in West Africa would ensure the reliability of future calibrations for the infiltration parameterizations.

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