Freya L Jephcott
Biographic Data
| ID | 156357 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Freya L Jephcott |
| GIVEN NAMES | Freya L |
| FAMILY NAME | Jephcott |
| SIGNATURE | JEPHCOTT F L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Cambridge |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3256-0099 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 9 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2016 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Epistemic preparedness
Preparedness strategies for emergent infectious diseases have focused on microbial surveillance, medical stockpiling and healthcare infrastructure resilience. But what does it mean to be epistemically or cognitively prepared for the next disease outbreak? Taking stock of lessons for data practices and statistical modelling in the wake of COVID-19, we propose a reconceptualising of preparedness in global health, focusing on ecological and sociolog…
Practical norms in emerging infectious disease control
Concern around the emergence of zoonoses with pandemic potential has fuelled significant foreign engagement with domestic infectious disease surveillance and response systems across Africa. These international efforts at augmentation have likely been hampered, however, by an inattention to how such systems actually manifest on the ground and the critical activities and undertakings that take place outside of official structures and protocols. Suc…
Stuck in ‘the field’
Between December 2010 and January 2011, 16 children presented to a mission hospital, in what at the time was, the Brong Ahafo Region (BAR) of Ghana, with unusual forms of seizure and paralysis. Initial testing suggested that the cause was B virus, a zoonotic monkey-borne virus not previously seen in Africa. These unexpected and concerning results spurred national public health authorities to deploy a field epidemiology team from the capital. Alth…
Ineffective responses to unlikely outbreaks
Over the last 30 years, there has been significant investment in research and infrastructure aimed at mitigating the threat of newly emerging infectious diseases (NEID). Core epidemiological processes, such as outbreak investigations, however, have received little attention and have proceeded largely unchecked and unimproved. Using ethnographic material from an investigation into a cryptic encephalitis outbreak in the Brong‐Ahafo Region of Ghana …
Propagating Visions of a Forest Reservoir
When examined closely, the backgrounds of some of the most widely cited origin stories for zoonotic disease outbreaks have been found to be irreconcilable with empirical data. Stated simply, these explanatory landscapes do not appear to have existed. Here, I present a detailed case study of one such fictional landscape, that of a monkey-filled forest which was identified as the source of a suspected zoonotic outbreak in the Brong-Ahafo Region of …
Disaster displacement and zoonotic disease dynamics
Projected increases in human and animal displacement driven by climate change, disasters and related environmental degradation will have significant implications to global health. Pathways for infectious disease transmission including zoonoses, diseases transmitted between animals and humans, are complex and non-linear. While forced migration is considered an important driver for the spread of zoonoses, actual disease dynamics remain under resear…
Lockdowns, lives and livelihoods
While the official COVID-19 burden has remained relatively low in Somalia, the impact to people's daily lives, income and livelihoods due to public health responses, has been significant. Participants describe those 'secondary' outcomes as the main impact of the pandemic, serving as a stark reminder of the need to broaden the public health response beyond disease prevention to include social and economic interventions to decrease people's vulnera…
The factors affecting household transmission dynamics and community compliance with Ebola control measures
Transmission occurred primarily in a few large households, with prolonged transmission and a high death toll. Return of a survivor to the village and more effective implementation of control strategies coincided with increased compliance to control measures, with few subsequent cases. We propose key recommendations for management of EVD outbreaks based on this experience
Ebola, Bats and Evidence-Based Policy
Ineffective responses to unlikely outbreaks
Over the last 30 years, there has been significant investment in research and infrastructure aimed at mitigating the threat of newly emerging infectious diseases (NEID). Core epidemiological processes, such as outbreak investigations, however, have received little attention and have proceeded largely unchecked and unimproved. Using ethnographic material from an investigation into a cryptic encephalitis outbreak in the Brong‐Ahafo Region of Ghana …
Propagating Visions of a Forest Reservoir
When examined closely, the backgrounds of some of the most widely cited origin stories for zoonotic disease outbreaks have been found to be irreconcilable with empirical data. Stated simply, these explanatory landscapes do not appear to have existed. Here, I present a detailed case study of one such fictional landscape, that of a monkey-filled forest which was identified as the source of a suspected zoonotic outbreak in the Brong-Ahafo Region of …
Ebola, Bats and Evidence-Based Policy
The factors affecting household transmission dynamics and community compliance with Ebola control measures
Transmission occurred primarily in a few large households, with prolonged transmission and a high death toll. Return of a survivor to the village and more effective implementation of control strategies coincided with increased compliance to control measures, with few subsequent cases. We propose key recommendations for management of EVD outbreaks based on this experience
Disaster displacement and zoonotic disease dynamics
Projected increases in human and animal displacement driven by climate change, disasters and related environmental degradation will have significant implications to global health. Pathways for infectious disease transmission including zoonoses, diseases transmitted between animals and humans, are complex and non-linear. While forced migration is considered an important driver for the spread of zoonoses, actual disease dynamics remain under resear…
Lockdowns, lives and livelihoods
While the official COVID-19 burden has remained relatively low in Somalia, the impact to people's daily lives, income and livelihoods due to public health responses, has been significant. Participants describe those 'secondary' outcomes as the main impact of the pandemic, serving as a stark reminder of the need to broaden the public health response beyond disease prevention to include social and economic interventions to decrease people's vulnera…
Ineffective responses to unlikely outbreaks
Over the last 30 years, there has been significant investment in research and infrastructure aimed at mitigating the threat of newly emerging infectious diseases (NEID). Core epidemiological processes, such as outbreak investigations, however, have received little attention and have proceeded largely unchecked and unimproved. Using ethnographic material from an investigation into a cryptic encephalitis outbreak in the Brong‐Ahafo Region of Ghana …
Propagating Visions of a Forest Reservoir
When examined closely, the backgrounds of some of the most widely cited origin stories for zoonotic disease outbreaks have been found to be irreconcilable with empirical data. Stated simply, these explanatory landscapes do not appear to have existed. Here, I present a detailed case study of one such fictional landscape, that of a monkey-filled forest which was identified as the source of a suspected zoonotic outbreak in the Brong-Ahafo Region of …
Stuck in ‘the field’
Between December 2010 and January 2011, 16 children presented to a mission hospital, in what at the time was, the Brong Ahafo Region (BAR) of Ghana, with unusual forms of seizure and paralysis. Initial testing suggested that the cause was B virus, a zoonotic monkey-borne virus not previously seen in Africa. These unexpected and concerning results spurred national public health authorities to deploy a field epidemiology team from the capital. Alth…
Epistemic preparedness
Preparedness strategies for emergent infectious diseases have focused on microbial surveillance, medical stockpiling and healthcare infrastructure resilience. But what does it mean to be epistemically or cognitively prepared for the next disease outbreak? Taking stock of lessons for data practices and statistical modelling in the wake of COVID-19, we propose a reconceptualising of preparedness in global health, focusing on ecological and sociolog…
Practical norms in emerging infectious disease control
Concern around the emergence of zoonoses with pandemic potential has fuelled significant foreign engagement with domestic infectious disease surveillance and response systems across Africa. These international efforts at augmentation have likely been hampered, however, by an inattention to how such systems actually manifest on the ground and the critical activities and undertakings that take place outside of official structures and protocols. Suc…
Medicine (9 works) · Viral Infections and Outbreaks Research (8 works) · Disease (6 works) · Public health (5 works) · Zoonotic diseases and public health (5 works) · Geography (4 works) · Nursing (4 works) · Outbreak (4 works) · Pathology (3 works) · Political science (3 works)