Anticipating Catastrophe: Health Systems Strengthening Refashioned as Innovative Pandemic Preparedness

• In Event: Without Borders? The Future of Global Health and Transnational Humanitarianism

Abstract

In the wake of the West African Ebola Virus Epidemic, a diverse array of global health funders has invested in health systems strengthening and cross-border, collaborative development projects in both case-present and case-absent West African countries. One illustrative example of this new investment is the series of Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) projects, the first of which was approved by the World Bank in June 2016. The recipients of this first International Development Agency loan were Sierra Leone, Senegal, Guinea, and the West African Health Organization. REDISSE is a long-term umbrella project with the goal of including all 15 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and extending well beyond the spectre of Ebola. Senegal, which effectively managed and treated the one case of Ebola within its borders during the epidemic, was chosen for the first round of funding because of the country “has shown regional leadership in developing effective disease detection and research capacity.” Within the context of this project and a hoped-for “Emerging Senegal,” how are imagined scientific futures configured by anticipated health catastrophes? How are health systems, a flexible term, refashioned as protectors from a disastrous future and visions of promoted human well-being de-prioritized? As a plan for cross-border scientific solidarity and care, how is REDISSE designed to take on this work?

Author

• Marlee Tichenor, University of Edinburgh