![]() ![]() 5 Outbreaks and natural disasters have shown that mismanagement of the dead can show distrust and undermine public health efforts to contain diseases and can also contribute to long-term trauma for survivors when the bodies of loved ones are not considered to have been treated with respect. ![]() 1 The Ebola epidemic particularly demonstrated the ethical tensions arising from questions such as how a contagion should be managed to ensure the safety of the living, while being mindful of and showing respect for persons and any social–cultural significance related to sacred obligations towards the dead. How the bodies of the deceased are handled can have significant health implications and raise sociocultural and ethical dilemmas. In the global South, resource constraints, inadequate or lack of capacity makes bad situations worse. In most settings, scarce burial spaces or overburdened crematoria are some of the challenges that need to be addressed at times of great urgency, so that hundreds of dead bodies can be dealt with in a short space of time. 4Įpidemics and natural disasters exacerbate the practical difficulties connected with proper and respectful storage of dead bodies. There have been images of bodies recovered from the rubble of homes destroyed by the quake in Haiti, 1 mass graves in Brazil 2 and bodies cremated en masse 3 or dumped in rivers in India. Recently, some of the most searing and distressing media images of the current pandemic or the Haitian earthquake of 2021 relate to the handling of the dead. For example, the devastating Haitian earthquakes of 2010 and now in 2021, the Ebola epidemic of 2014–2016, the current COVID-19 pandemic has revealed some of the practical and ethical complexities related to the management of dead bodies. Catastrophic natural disasters and epidemics claim thousands of lives and have severe and lasting consequences, accompanied by human suffering. ![]()
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