The Society for Medical Anthropology’s Anthropological Responses to Health Emergencies (ARHE) has announced the winners of the 2022 Policy Brief Award. The award recognises outstanding application of anthropological insights to policies around health emergencies. The aim of the award is to encourage and acknowledge the contributions of anthropologists by providing the humanistic side of policy recommendations for responding to health emergencies.
A brief produced by the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) entitled, ‘COVID-19 Vaccines and (Dis)Trust among Minoritised Youth in Ealing, London, United Kingdom’ was among the award winners. In this brief, authors Megan Schmidt-Sane (SSHAP), Tabitha Hrynick (SSHAP), Jillian Schulte (Case Western Reserve University), Charlie Forgacz-Cooper (Youth Advisory Board), and Santiago Ripoll (SSHAP) draw on literature in-depth interviews and focus groups with 62 youth across Ealing to contextualise youth perspectives of COVID-19 vaccination and highlight themes of trust/distrust. Building on previous work on vaccine equity in Ealing, this brief presents key considerations for addressing youth distrust regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
Reflecting on the achievement, co-author Megan Schmidt-Sane states: “We are grateful to have received this award, which recognises our team’s work and engagement with community, the voluntary and community sectors, and the local council in Ealing. It also showcases the value of an anthropological approach and taking a holistic lens to complex issues in our world today.”
You can access more SSHAP briefs which apply anthropological and social science perspectives to crises in our resource library.
