Inter Press Service: Ebola and ISIS: A Learning Exchange Between U.N. and Faith-based Organizations
Azza Karam, senior adviser on culture at the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA)

“…Burying the dead in a community touches the very belief systems which give value and meaning to life. … And the opportunity to address this medical-cultural gap (which is not new to development or humanitarian work) extends beyond burials of the dead and medical care for the living, to providing psycho-social support, and ensuring economic livelihoods. In these areas, too, faith-based NGOs have roles to play. The militancy of ISIS and the repercussions of the war currently being waged both with and against them presents a similar set of cultural challenges to national and international actors…” (11/13).

New England Journal of Medicine: Communicating Uncertainty — Ebola, Public Health, and the Scientific Process
Lisa Rosenbaum, national correspondent for NEJM

“…[T]he Ebola epidemic in West Africa is far from over. Containing the epidemic requires continued efforts by dedicated international health workers and a willingness to trust that though our health authorities cannot know everything, they will do everything they can to protect us with the knowledge they have” (11/13).

Huffington Post: Ebola Is Not the Problem
Cindy Stein Urbanc, coordinator of Maternal Child Health Programs for Real Medicine Foundation

“…Ebola serves as the best current case study to date showing how we are all interconnected and so, as such, to some degree any Ebola strategy needs to focus on human behavior rather than viral behavior. … The best hope we have is in placing a focus on incentivizing people to make good choices. This means promoting social justice and equality in health care, eliminating poverty even if it means we need to forego one or two luxuries that we are accustomed to, and essentially caring about others even before an infectious disease like Ebola reaches our doorsteps…” (11/13).