Updates on the COVID-19 pandemic
Our work focuses on the social dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-cutting themes are the political economy of the epidemic and responses to it, diverse forms of knowledge and experience, state-society relationships, history and context.
Explore resources created by the team and other relevant resources from the sector.
Photo credit: UNICEF/Volpe
Parents in line to receive their food bag at La Paz School Complex No. 2 in zone 5 of Guatemala City.
Vulnerabilities and precarity
Briefing
Key Considerations: Indigenous Peoples in COVID-19 Response and Recovery
Key considerations for COVID-19 response and recovery in indigenous populations, with a particular focus on the Amazon region of South America
Briefing
Community Resilience: Key Concepts and their Applications to Epidemic Shocks
Exploring how the concepts of community resilience can be applied to epidemics
Briefing
Key Considerations: Operational Considerations for Building Community Resilience for COVID-19 Response and Recovery
How health and humanitarian practitioners can support communities to respond to, and recover from COVID-19 using a community resilience approach.
Evidence review
In-Focus: COVID-19, Uncertainty, Vulnerability and Recovery in India
How COVID-19 has intersected with and multiplied existing uncertainties faced by different vulnerable groups and communities in India
Research paper
COVID-19 in LMICs: The Need to Place Stigma Front and Centre to its Response
This paper assesses potential driving factors of COVID-19-related stigma, and how this intersects with existing stigma fault lines and explores mechanisms through which COVID-19-related stigma may be counteracted, with a focus on LMICs
Case study
Psychological Resilience, Fragility and the Health Workforce: Lessons on Pandemic Preparedness from Liberia and Sierra Leone
Looking at evidence from Liberia and Sierra Leone, this paper shares learning on how to protect the mental health of health care workers in fragile settings.
Infographic
COVID-19: Supporting Forcibly Displaced People in the Middle East and East Africa
COVID-19 is compounding vulnerabilities experienced by populations forcibly displaced by war
Evidence review
The Emerging Lessons on Urban Vulnerability and Safety from COVID-19 in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Reflections on the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 in LMICs
Evidence review
Background Paper: COVID-19 in the Context of Forced Displacement: Perspectives from the Middle East and East Africa
How is the pandemic accentuating existing vulnerabilities of populations forcibly displaced by war?
Briefing
Operational Considerations: COVID-19 and Forced Displacement in the Middle East and East Africa
Summary including collaborating with local groups and adopting holistic approaches.
Briefing
COVID-19 Management in Marginalised Populations in Southeast Asia
Key considerations focusing on transnational migrants, informal workers, and people living in informal settlements.
Briefing
COVID-19 in the Context of Conflict and Displacement – Myanmar
Key considerations focusing on how conflict, displacement and inter-communal tensions may influence disease control in Myanmar.
Briefing
COVID-19: Why Are Prisons at Particular Risk, and What Can Be Done to Mitigate This?
Particular risks associated with an outbreak in prisons in low-and middle-income countries and suggestions of some approaches that may be used to mitigate risks.
Infographic
COVID-19: Strategies To Slow The Spread In Prisons
Prison populations are extremely vulnerable in this pandemic.
Briefing
Key Considerations: COVID-19 in Informal Urban Settlements
Key considerations for protecting informal urban settlements from the spread and impacts of COVID-19.
Infographic
Informal Urban Settlements and COVID-19
The potential burdens of COVID-19 in low- and middle-income cities are concerning.
Briefing
The Psychological Needs of Healthcare Staff as a Result of the Coronavirus Pandemic
Considerations for the wellbeing needs of all healthcare staff (clinical and non-clinical)
Vaccines
Evidence review
Data Synthesis: COVID-19 Vaccine Perceptions in Africa: Social and Behavioural Science Data, March 2020 – March 2021
This synthesis brings together data related to public perceptions about COVID-19 vaccines collected in 22 countries in Africa
Evidence review
Rapid Review: Perceptions of COVID-19 vaccines in South Africa
This review draws on multiple secondary data sources to inform RCCE strategies and policies and provides examples of successful practice
Case study
COVID-19 school closures in the DRC: impact on the health, protection and education of children and youth
Our work focuses on the social dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cross-cutting themes are the political economy of the epidemic and responses to it, diverse forms of knowledge and experience, state-society relationships, history and context. Explore resources created by the…
Briefing
Rapid Review: Vaccine Hesitancy and Building Confidence in COVID-19 Vaccination
This brief draws on social science literature and informal interviews with experts to illustrate that vaccine hesitancy is complex and context-specific, and often reflects diverse, everyday anxieties. It proposes strategies to guide actors involved in vaccine development, communication and deployment…
Infographic
COVID-19: Going Beyond Misinformation To Build Vaccine Confidence
Boosting vaccine confidence requires far more than simply providing information.
Briefing
Clinical and vaccine trials for COVID-19: Key Considerations from social science
This Key Considerations brief outlines how, and in what ways, social science can contribute to ongoing and future COVID-19 clinical and vaccine trials.
Briefing
COVID-19 Vaccine Deployment: Behaviour, Ethics, Misinformation and Policy Strategies
Rapid review offering policy recommendations for vaccine deployment
Infographic
COVID-19: Using Social Science in Clinical and Vaccine Trials
How can social science be used in COVID-19 clinical and vaccine trials?
Public health measures
Research paper
COVID-19 response: mitigating negative impacts on other areas of health
This analysis highlights the drivers and evidence of the negative impact of 'vertical’ responses focused primarily on preventing and containing COVID-19
Briefing
Smart Cities and COVID-19: Implications for Data Ecosystems from Lessons Learned in India
Best data practice recommendations for the use of technology for surveillance, fact-checking and coordinated control during crisis or emergency response.
Case study
Learning about COVID-19-related stigma, quarantine and isolation experiences in Finland
This study explores the forms and outcomes of coronavirus and COVID-19-related social stigma and the experiences of people who were home quarantined or isolated in Finland during the spring 2020
Field notes
Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using data to find a balance – Part III Calls to Action
This report distills key insights from The Partnership for Evidence-Based Response to COVID-19 (PERC)’s third survey conducted in February 2021
Background report
SSHAP Africa CDC Webinar: Lockdowns and easing of restrictions: What can be done to adapt to local contexts and protect those who are vulnerable?
This SSHAP-Africa CDC Webinar brought together representatives of the Member States as well as from civil society organisations, humanitarian actors and professional organisations
Briefing
Key Considerations: Emerging Evidence on Shielding Vulnerable Groups During COVID-19
Considerations around the social acceptability and implementation of shielding in low- and middle-income countries
Evidence review
Broader Health Impacts of Vertical Responses to COVID-19 in Low- and Middle- Income Countries (LMICs)
Review of the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs
Infographic
COVID-19: Shielding Vulnerable Groups
Considerations around the social acceptability and implementation of shielding in low- and middle-income countries
Infographic
COVID-19: Preventing Broader Health Impacts of Pandemic Responses
Review of the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs
Evidence review
Considerations for Home and Community-Based Care for COVID-19
Why home care is important, and an overview of existing guidance and models, with an emphasis on low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs).
Briefing
Considerations and Principles for Shielding People at High Risk of Severe Outcomes from COVID-19
Including proposed approaches to shielding, who may be included in shielding groups, as well as the likely difficulties of these measures, and ways to mitigate them.
Briefing
Compliance with Physical Distancing Measures for COVID-19 and Implications for RCCE in Eastern and Southern Africa
Practical considerations for communication strategies and messaging on physical distancing.
Briefing
Quarantine in the Context of COVID-19
Key considerations relating to the design and impact of measures that restrict human movement patterns.
Infographic
Shielding People At High Risk Of Severe Illness Or Death
Protecting people at high risk by limiting their contact with others during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Infographic
Distancing In Eastern And Southern Africa
Why is physical distancing a challenge in Eastern and Southern Africa in the context of COVID-19?
Briefing
Recommandations Clés pour les Équipes de Réponse Contre la MVE en Équateur
Évidences pour soutenir le MSP et les acteurs qui répondent à la 11ème épidémie d'Ebola en RDC
Briefing
Perceptions et Impacts des Mesures COVID sur l’Utilisation et l’Accès aux Services de Santé
Une étude longitudinale sur les impacts secondaires des mesures COVID en Kinshasa
Briefing
Guidance for health care worker (HCW) surveys in humanitarian contexts in LMICs
This brief supports easy-to-access tools, best practice and practical examples for the use of HCW surveys in humanitarian contexts.
Briefing
Perceptions des Mesures Barrières pour la Prévention et le Contrôle du COVID-19
Une étude sur les options de protection des personnes vulnérables à domicile
Policy, evidence and governance
Briefing
6 ways to incorporate social context and trust in infodemic management
This brief explains how social science can inform infodemiology by making it more attuned to different social, political and cultural contexts and to the relationships between people and formal institutions.
Briefing
Social Dimensions of the novel Coronavirus (nCoV) Outbreak and Response: Meeting Report
Report from a roundtable meeting at the Wellcome Trust, London, 3rd February 2020.
Comment
COVID-19 Forum
A collection bringing together seventeen anthropologists and historians in an effort to share ideas, analytical frameworks and concerns about the ongoing epidemic from interdisciplinary perspectives.
Communication and engagement
Evidence review
RCCE Strategies to Overcome COVID-19 Fatigue in the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East and North Africa
This brief synthesises evidence published by UNICEF on social and cultural influences for sustained COVID-19 prevention and risk reduction behaviours in the Eastern Mediterranean / Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Infographic
COVID-19: Implications of Cross-Border Traffic in Eastern and Southern Africa
Most countries have restricted entry to reduce transmission of COVID-19
Briefing
COVID-19 RCCE Strategies for Cross-Border Movement in Eastern and Southern Africa
Key considerations for risk communication and community engagement strategies
Briefing
Online Information, Mis- and Disinformation in the Context of COVID-19
Practical considerations relating to flows of information, misinformation and disinformation though online media, particularly social media networks.
Infographic
COVID-19: Online Information
What can public bodies do to communicate accurate information and prevent disinformation?
Briefing
Risks Related to Population Movement and Gatherings During Ramadan
Key considerations in relation to COVID-19 during the holy month of Ramadan on the continent of Africa.
Briefing
Do You Speak COVID-19?
Millions of marginalised people lack basic information about how to keep themselves and their communities safe and well.
Death, burials and mourning
Background report
Death and Funerary Practices in the Context of Epidemics: Upholding the Rights of Religious Minorities
An exploration of the conflict between biomedical understandings of death and funerary practices within epidemic responses, and religious minorities’ freedom of belief and practice
Briefing
Dying, Bereavement and Mortuary and Funerary Practices in the Context of COVID-19
Key considerations for events related to death, burial, funerals (rites, ceremonies and practices) and mourning.
Briefing
Tools
Assessing key considerations for burial practices, death and mourning in epidemics
This Practical Approaches brief looks the considerations for rapidly appraising burial/funerary practices and beliefs around death/dying during an epidemic.
Infographic
Strategies To Support Those Affected By Deaths During The COVID-19 Outbreak
Changes to customary burial and funeral practices can have long-term consequences for people's psychosocial health.
Notes from the field
Field notes
“Hunger will kill us before the coronavirus does!”
Africa is particularly vulnerable to the coronavirus and the effects of restrictions.
