Jana Telfer

Associate Director for Communication Science,
Centers for Disease Control
Focus Area(s)
Pandemic Response
Interviewers
Leon Schreiber
Country of Reform
Liberia
Town/City
Monrovia
Country
Liberia
Date of Interview
Monday, May 02, 2016
Abstract

In this interview, Jana Telfer describes how she became involved in the Ebola response in Liberia in 2014 when a CDC colleague recommended she come to assist the Liberian government in a risk communication approach to the crisis. When she arrived in September, she says, 60 different NGOs were working on 250 different projects. Along a similar vein, communications strategy lacked structure and there were simply too many voices to establish a coherent message. In the end, through coordination facilitated by the national Incident Management System (IMS), Liberia developed the most sophisticated Ebola message manual of the three affected countries: Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia. She explains that the messaging took an upward turn when traditional chiefs became involved in message dissemination, resulting in more significant behavior change in their respective communities.

Full Interview

56 MB
Jana Telfer Interview
Profile

Jana Telfer served as the Associate Director for Communications Science at the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before and during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in Liberia. Prior to the outbreak, she assisted in a multitude of emergency health situations domestic and abroad

Keywords
ebola
social mobilization
communication
risk communication approach
international cooperation
field mobilization
Not specified