Ebola response missions: To go or not to go?
Cross-sectional study on the motivation of European public health experts, December 2014

U Rexroth; M Diercke; E Peron; C Winter; M an der Heiden; A Gilsdorf

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.12.21070

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Ebola response missions: To go or not to go? Cross-sectional study on the motivation of European public health experts, December 2014
U Rexroth^1,2 , M Diercke^1,2 , E Peron^1,3 , C Winter¹ , M an der Heiden¹ , A Gilsdorf¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Robert Koch Institute, Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Surveillance Unit, Berlin, Germany ² These authors contributed equally to this work ³ European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET), European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden

Correspondence:
U Rexroth
rexrothu rki.de
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Citation style for this article: Rexroth U, Diercke M, Peron E, Winter C, an der Heiden M, Gilsdorf A. Ebola response missions: To go or not to go? Cross-sectional study on the motivation of European public health experts, December 2014. Euro Surveill. 2015;20(12):pii=21070. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.12.21070 Received: 11 Mar 2015

Abstract

We surveyed European infectious disease epidemiologists and microbiologists about their decisions to apply for Ebola response missions. Of 368 respondents, 49 (15%) had applied. Applicants did not differ from non-applicants in terms of age, sex or profession but had more training in field epidemiology and more international experience. Common concerns included lack of support from families and employers. Clearer terms of reference and support from employers could motivate application and support outbreak response in West Africa.