Republic of Guinea : Socioeconomic Impact of Ebola Using Mobile Phone Survey
The Ebola pandemic has been one of the most virulent pandemics in modern times. By the end of 2015, the epidemic had cost the lives of more than 11,300 people in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, including more than 500 frontline health care worke...
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| Format: | Report |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2016/05/26443853/ http://hdl.handle.net/10986/24724 |
| Summary: | The Ebola pandemic has been one of the
most virulent pandemics in modern times. By the end of 2015,
the epidemic had cost the lives of more than 11,300 people
in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, including more than
500 frontline health care workers. After good growth
performance between 2011 and 2013, Guinea’s economy has
suffered a number of setbacks, including the Ebola crisis
and a sharp drop in new investment in the mining sector. As
part of the international effort to understand and manage
the Ebola crisis and to obtain microeconomic data, the World
Bank partnered with Guinea’s National Institute of
Statistics (INS) to conduct a mobile phone survey to measure
the socioeconomic impact of Ebola on households, following
in the footsteps of similar mobile surveys conducted in
Liberia and Sierra Leone in 2015. The study finds that the
pandemic had ripple effects on the economic fabric and that
the economic effects of Ebola have outlasted the
epidemiological ones. In addition to the great loss of life,
the epidemic has caused great damage to the countries’
economies. As part of the international response, the World
Bank Group has significantly financed the Ebola-affected
countries. Guinea was significantly affected by the Ebola
pandemic, jeopardizing some of the gains in macroeconomic
stability and poverty reduction during the last few years.
The survey was conducted in all provinces of Guinea, with 60
percent of the respondents residing in the areas strongly
affected by Ebola. Using newly collected data through a
mobile phone survey, this study analyzes the socioeconomic
impact of Ebola on households in Guinea. The survey shows
that all parts of Guinea were economically affected by
Ebola, with greater impacts in the southeast and the areas
around Conakry. It is interesting to note that a quarter of
respondents in the severely affected areas reported
experiencing proven cases of Ebola in their neighborhood or
village. In relation to agriculture, it is found that Ebola
did not negatively affect agricultural production and food
price. Another surprising finding is that despite Ebola and
risk of contamination, households that needed treatment for
malaria and diarrhea still visited a health facility,
whereas a significant proportion of households reduced their
attendance of health facilities. Income loss for rural
households was much more related to difficulties in selling
their production, than to lower agricultural production or
lower food prices. However, Ebola has had a larger effect on
urban employment, as illustrated by the increase in the
urban unemployment rate. On the other hand, due to Ebola,
children dropped out of school, and households adopted
coping strategies by reducing their food consumption and
selling key assets. |
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