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New and re-emerging disease outbreaks can cause social conflict

Nature Human Behaviour volume 8, pages 1446–1447 (2024)Cite this article

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Analysis of a dataset on zoonotic diseases such as Ebola and avian flu reveals that although zoonotic outbreaks can reduce the incidence of civil war, they increase social conflicts that involve civil defence groups, vigilantes and other identity militias.

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Fig. 1: Change in expected conflict rates for a one outbreak change across four types of actor.

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This is a summary of: Koren, O. & Bukari, K. N. (Re)Emerging disease and conflict risk in Africa, 1997–2019. Nat. Hum. Behav. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01929-1 (2024).

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New and re-emerging disease outbreaks can cause social conflict. Nat Hum Behav 8, 1446–1447 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-024-01935-3

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