The communication aspects of the Ebola virus disease outbreak in Western Africa – do we need to counter one, two, or many epidemics?

In public health crises such as the outbreak of the Ebola virus disease in West Africa in 2014, the key role in saving the lives of infected people is played by the management and dissemination of scientific and medical knowledge. After the World Health Organization (1) has announced that no confirmed cases of the Ebola virus disease were reported in the week to October 4, 2015, we wanted to analyze various communications and communication strategies concerning the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. Our argument is that for effective health communication strategies in public health crises it is crucial to respond to local contexts and to take them into account on various levels. We are going to lay out our argument using illustrative examples.