Ebola Outbreak Research

Harvard geneticist Pardis Sabeti is among the many scientists who are collaborating on intense research to solve the Ebola outbreak in Africa. In a PRI interview she mentions working with one of HH&S’ global centers, Nollywood Workshops in Nigeria, which she says has done a “tremendous” job in getting top Nigerian entertainment celebrities to do PSAs, publicize hotlines and get information out about the virus and how it spreads.

“Amazing artists got together with Nollywood Workshops and created these public service announcements and they’re getting people to an Ebola hotline,” she said. As a result, Sabeti added, Nigeria is carrying out a very effective campaign to control the outbreak. 

“That was a really beautiful coordinated effort,” she said.

A report on the PRI website that ran with the interview said the CDC is now forecasting that the virus may infect up to 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone by the end of January 2015.