In a 2018 study, researchers describe the devastating and far-reaching impacts of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, including more than half a million people experiencing food insecurity, school closures lasting more than 7 months, tens of thousands of children orphaned, and a huge proportion of the health workforce killed by the disease, leading to infant, maternal, and child deaths due to a lack of skilled health workers and a 97% reduction in surgical capacity.
In a comprehensive accounting of the costs of the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Huber et al. estimate the economic and social costs to have been US$53 billion, of which US$18.8 billion was attributed to non-Ebola deaths.
Using data on the spread of Ebola from person to person during historical Ebola outbreaks to compare vaccination strategies, researchers found that prophylatically vaccinating all healthcare workers would have decreased the number of disease cases in the 2014 epidemics in Guinea and Nigeria by 60-80%.
A 2015 study projected that the crippling of immunization programs resulting from the 2014 Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone could double the number of people at risk of a measles outbreak, and could cause up to 16,000 measles deaths, surpassing the number of deaths caused by Ebola itself.
An analysis of the impact of rotavirus vaccine in 25 countries found that the rates of vaccination in all countries were highest and risk mortality lowest in the top two wealth quintile’s coverage. Countries differed in the relative inequities in these two underlying variables. Cost per DALYs averted in substantially greater in the higher quintiles. In all countries, the greatest potential vaccine benefit was in the poorest quintiles; however, reduced vaccination coverage lowered the projected vaccine benefit.
Katika utafiti wa 2018, watafiti walielezea athari mbaya na za mbali za mlipuko wa Ebola wa 2014 katika Afrika Magharibi, ikiwa ni pamoja na watu zaidi ya nusu milioni wanaokabiliwa na ukosefu wa usalama wa chakula, kufungwa kwa shule kwa zaidi ya miezi 7, maelfu ya watoto yatima, na idadi kubwa ya wafanyikazi wa afya waliouawa na ugonjwa huo, na kusababisha vifo vya watoto wachanga, mama na watoto kwa sababu ya ukosefu wa wafanyikazi wa afya wenye ujuzi. Katika ripoti ya mwaka 2014 ya gharama za kuenea kwa ugonjwa wa Ebola katika Afrika Magharibi, Huber et al. Kwa mujibu wa ripoti hiyo, gharama za kiuchumi na kijamii za ugonjwa huo zimekadiriwa kuwa dola bilioni 53 ambazo dola bilioni 18.8 zimesababishwa na vifo visivyohusishwa na ugonjwa wa Ebola. Kwa kutumia data ya kuenea kwa Ebola kutoka kwa mtu mmoja hadi mwingine wakati wa milipuko ya Ebola ya kihistoria kulinganisha mikakati ya chanjo, watafiti waligundua kuwa chanjo ya kinga kwa wafanyikazi wote wa huduma ya afya ingepunguza idadi ya visa vya ugonjwa katika janga la Guinea na Nigeria mnamo 2014. Utafiti wa mwaka 2015 ulionyesha kuwa kuharibika kwa mipango ya chanjo kutokana na janga la Ebola nchini Guinea, Liberia na Sierra Leone, kunaweza kuongeza mara mbili idadi ya watu walio hatarini mwa kuambukizwa ugonjwa wa surua na kusababisha vifo vya watu 16,000 kwa sababu ya ugonjwa huo. Uchunguzi wa athari za chanjo ya rotavirus katika nchi 25 uligundua kuwa viwango vya chanjo katika nchi zote vilikuwa vya juu na vifo vya hatari vilikuwa vya chini katika chanjo ya quintile mbili za juu za utajiri. Nchi zilitofautiana katika ukosefu wa usawa wa jamaa katika vigezo hivi viwili vya msingi. Gharama kwa DALYs kuepukwa katika kwa kiasi kikubwa zaidi katika quintiles ya juu. Katika nchi zote, faida kubwa ya chanjo ilikuwa katika quintiles maskini; hata hivyo, kupunguzwa kwa chanjo kupunguzwa faida ya chanjo iliyotarajiwa.