The Public Forums on the Ebola Vaccine Trials in Ghana: Four Reports from Freelance Reporters

There were four Public Forums organised in Ghana in 2015 to engage the general public about the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. We, the authors, connected informally with Tony Goodman, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Ministry of Health at the time and he facilitated our trips to the various venues. We gave him same-day reports as independent reporters. We are proud of our contribution since it helped to relax the nerves of the officials of the Ministry of Health as well as Members of Parliament, thereby ensuring progress on the basis of facts, evidence and reason. The confusion about whether or not there was an Ebola vaccine in Ghana was caused by reporters/journalists. And it took us - freelance reporters - to dispel those rumours by listening to all the facts, preparing same day reports and drawing firm conclusions for the PRO. The palpable tension was such that credibility in what the employed health experts/scientists were saying was at an all time low. Due to the tensions, we tried as much as possible to maintain some near verbatim comments and little to no editing of some contributions, while also boldly stating our understanding of the matter in our executive summaries. All the contents in this book is our compilation hence we take full responsibility for any errors.