The Politics of Reporting Reportable Diseases: A Methodological Review of the State-Researcher Clash

Abstract

In December 2016, the media in Tanzania was preoccupied with questions on thepresence of the Zika virus in Tanzania. The debate was sparked by a report of theNational Institute of Medical Research (NIMR), which pointed out that traces of theZika virus had been identified in Tanzania. Within a short time, the governmentrefuted the report and asked NIMR to retract the findings, arguing that the reportingprocess did not follow established procedures. Two central questions demand a closereview: first, why did the government demand that the report be retracted? Second,what are the procedures that should have been followed? In this methodologicalreview of the reporting of reportable diseases, this paper attempts to examine theraison d ' être for the tag of war between the two sides, and highlights the rightprocedures that should have been followed in the announcement of such findings. Thereview concludes with a methodological note to researchers and the reporting offindings in health-related studies.Key words: reportable disease, reporting politics, Tanzania, Zika, methods.