Document Library
Indigenous peoples have experienced heightened vulnerability during the COVID-19 pandemic and face disproportionately high COVID-19 mortality. To better address these vulnerabilities, it is critical to adapt COVID-19 programmes to the particular needs of indigenous peoples, as articulated by indigenous voices. It is also vital to link up with responses already ongoing and led by indigenous… Read more
This brief distils best data practice recommendations through consideration of key issues involved in the use of technology for surveillance, fact-checking and coordinated control during crisis or emergency response in resource constrained urban contexts. We draw lessons from how data enabled technologies were used in urban COVID-19 response, as well as how standard implementation procedures… Read more
This brief summarises key considerations about the social, political and economic context shaping the outbreak of Ebola in the N’Zérékoré prefecture, Guinea, as of March 2021. The outbreak was declared on 14 February 2021, two weeks after the death of the first known case, a health agent (Agent Technique de Santé) from Gouécké. Gouécké is… Read more
SSHAP convened a virtual roundtable of expert advisors on Friday 12 March 2021 to discuss the outbreak of Ebola in Guinea declared on 14 February 2021. At the time of writing (19 March 2021), there have been 18 cases (14 confirmed, 4 probable), 9 deaths (including 5 in the community; CFR 50%) and 6 recoveries…. Read more
As the unequal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues, there is a need to robustly support vulnerable communities and bolster ‘community resilience.’ A community resilience approach means to work in partnership with communities and strengthen their capacities to mitigate the impact of the pandemic, including its social and economic fallout. However, this is not resilience… Read more
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed long-standing social inequalities and vulnerabilities, with the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups bearing the greatest health, social, and economic burdens. Beyond documenting these vulnerabilities, there is a need to mitigate them and support the resilience of marginalised communities. ‘Community resilience’ can bolster community capacity to cope with the pressures of… Read more
Information epidemiology or infodemiology is the study of infodemics – defined by the World Health Organization as an overabundance of information, some accurate and some not, that occurs during a pandemic or other significant event that may impact public health. Infodemic management is the practice of infodemiology and may sit within the risk communication and… Read more
The ongoing conflict in Syria has taken a devastating toll on the education system; the impact on infrastructure, personnel, resourcing and student attendance is well documented. New DFID-funded research focuses on children’s learning and their exposure to trauma to build a picture of early primary education in opposition-held areas. In combining data on academic performance… Read more
The already weak health care delivery sector in Sierra Leone has been further overburdened with the Ebola outbreak. All efforts made towards strengthening the health system and working towards providing equitable access to healthcare for all has suffered a major setback. The Ebola outbreak has further highlighted the gaps in the health system namely lack… Read more
Diseases such as Ebola highlight the importance of a holistic focus on health systems, as opposed to assuming that health is the preserve and concern of health professionals alone. This was the lesson Uganda learnt very quickly in managing the Ebola outbreak in 2001. Until the current epidemic in West Africa, Uganda held the unfortunate… Read more
Increasingly, policies are being put in place by governments to identify and provide services to parents who are seen as needing additional support in fulfilling their parenting roles. Such policies can be justified on the basis of young children’s rights as well as the accumulating evidence that many problems of development, behaviour and mental health in… Read more