A few years ago, a haemorrhagic fever led to an MSF intervention in Central Africa. The disease was poorly understood, and in an isolated forest context, the local population had mixed feelings about the actions taken by NGOs, particularly when they came with injunctions and restrictions on the part of staff regarding traditional exhumation rites. The teams therefore asked for help from an anthropology expert.
If an organisation such as MSF has long called on the services of anthropologists, albeit on an ad hoc basis, it’s worth asking what motivates teams to enlist this type of expertise.
