Ebola and Preventive Communication Policies in Ivory Coast (2014‐2016)
Communication is a real challenge in public health, especially during epidemics. However, social scientists rarely focus on the communication practices of policymakers as receivers and transmitters of health measures. Yet, these political actors receive the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) and reinterpret them according to the cultural and socio-political context, trying to control the meaning of their messages and their possible immediate and a posteriori consequences. This article aims to analyze the political stakes of the Ivorian government’s preventive communication in the face of the threat of Ebola virus disease (EVD) during the period from the beginning of March 2014 to the end of November 2016, considering the prevailing socio-political and epidemic context. The analysis is based on data (observations, interviews, press review, documentary research, etc.) collected within the framework of the Ebo‐CI program (Ebola and Côte d’Ivoire ; 2014‐2016) and focuses on two objects of the multiple health measures taken at the time: bushmeat and funeral rites. The analyses show that in Côte d’Ivoire, the authorities choose their objects of communication with global health intervention tools, while rethinking certain measures for political purposes.