‘They overworked us’

Abstract

In this article, I describe the institutional humiliation experienced by volunteer nurses in Sierra Leone following the end of the Ebola epidemic. They had been promised formal employment with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation after working in the Ebola treatment units in the country, but were dismissed from the hospitals where they were volunteering and felt humiliated. I suggest that this maltreatment of volunteer nurses cannot be grasped through the existing categories and parameters used by global health policies nor through conventional moral theories that inform our understandings of global health. Instead, we need to attend to the harm inflicted upon the volunteer nurses' sense of self-respect through institutionalized forms of subordination and misrecognition. Drawing on philosophical and anthropological works on recognition, I argue that we should pay attention to moral emotions as distinct objects of study to grasp how those who are humiliated register and validate the maltreatment they have undergone.

‘Government don't know me and if I stop, they won't know’: A qualitative study on the lived experiences of volunteer health workers in the Nigerian health system and their implications for the sustainable development goals

“…However, most reported that they have been disappointed as this promise did not materialise. In a study in Sierra Leone, volunteer nurses were similarly promised jobs during the Ebola crises only to be later denied by the government 11 . In this study, some volunteers even go to the length of asking for improved pay from the Officer‐in‐Charge, highlighting prevailing socioeconomic challenges and the hardships encountered in managing the stipends promised to them.…”

“…In a study in Sierra Leone, volunteer nurses were similarly promised jobs during the Ebola crises only to be later denied by the government. 11 In this study, some volunteers even go to the length of asking for improved pay from the Officer-in-Charge, highlighting prevailing socioeconomic challenges and the hardships encountered in managing the stipends promised to them. As demonstrated in another study, acceding to this request may offer hope, further boosting the commitment of volunteers.…”

“…Most research on this topic has focused on people volunteering for specific health programmes or interventions 10,11 . However, this excludes the many volunteers who deliver a substantial proportion of care, alongside regularly employed health workers, in mainstream services in many Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries (LMICs).…”

Crosscurrents of Contagion: Snakes, Rumours, Rivers, and Ebola in Sierra Leone's Borderlands

“…Any critique of the biomedical response has to reckon with this tragedy, and I certainly do not blame healthcare professionals-some of whom I count as friends-who risked their lives in efforts to quell the Ebola epidemic. These workers faced stigma and rejection from their communities, and many did not receive the remuneration their work deserved (Park 2017). Moreover, rates of hospital transmission dropped significantly as better practices and resources spread.…”

“…Rolled out to correspond with the ruling party's re‐election campaigns in 2012, the programme was rushed and disorganised, plagued by inefficiency and graft (Pieterse and Lodge 2015). Newly hired medical workers and informal volunteer nurses found themselves forced to “make‐do” with poorly regulated, improvisational methods of diagnosis and treatment (Park 2017). Nonetheless, the programme attracted funding to fast‐track training for village‐level health posts.…”