Community voices on Climate and Security: Summary results for Senegal

This report summarizes preliminary results from fieldwork research conducted in Senegal during November, 2022. It is meant to expand our comprehension of climate-related security risks in Senegal, by examining the way local communities capitalise on everyday experience to develop a shared understanding around the effects of climate change over their livelihoods and wellbeing, along with the insecurity problems they collectively face.

Climate and Mobility in the West African Sahel: Conceptualising the Local Dimensions of the Environment and Migration Nexus

Despite the theoretical and methodological critique of deterministic and linear explanations of migration under changing climatic conditions, many empirical case studies in this field remain deeply entrenched in static push-pull frameworks and tend to reproduce simplistic causal relationships. Drawing on results from an interdisciplinary research project in Mali and Senegal, the chapter presents a methodological approach that emanates from past analytical shortcomings.

Humanitarian Response to the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake in Syria

On 6 February 2023, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale brought destruction to southern Türkiye and northern Syria. The official death toll exceeded 50,000, with more than 7,000 fatalities occurring in Syria.1 An estimated 12 million people were affected by the earthquake in total.2 While international aid from the UN and member countries started reaching government-held areas in Syria soon after the earthquake struck, equitable access to humanitarian assistance faced multiple barriers. International support to areas not controlled by the government was markedly delayed, with the first UN delegation arriving on the fifth day after the earthquake.
Despite this, several good practices were documented in the local response in Northwest Syria. Equipped with over 12 years of experience in a chronic conflict, many Syrian non-governmental organisations (NGO) and grassroots organisations were quick to respond, forming new alliances and consortia.

Citizens, custodians, and villains: Environmentality and the politics of difference in Senegal’s community forests

This paper situates environmental subjectivities as a constituent part of the politics of identity, property, and authority, drawing on feminist theories of subjectivity and the framework of articulating identity. Through an ethnographic investigation of community forest management in central Senegal, the author examines how villagers constructed subject positions incorporating environmental discourses and their own identity-inflected experiences and interests.

Challenges in Implementing the National Health Response to COVID-19 in Senegal

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, many epidemiological or anthropological studies have been published. However, few studies have yet been conducted to understand the implementation of State interventions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. In Senegal, the national response plan was planned before the country experienced its first official case of COVID-19 on 2 March 2020. This qualitative study, conducted in March and April 2021, based on 189 interviews, aims to understand how the national response has been implemented in several regions of Senegal.

Caregiving in Crisis: Fatherhood Refashioned by Sierra Leone’s Ebola Epidemic

In much of the literature on Sierra Leone, young men have been recognized for perpetrating violence or resisting authority. This characterization extended into the Ebola crisis, as young men were depicted as “resisting” public health measures. In contrast, little scholarship has focused on men’s roles as caregivers during the epidemic. This article draws on ethnographic research conducted between 2014 and 2016 in eastern Sierra Leone to demonstrate how men contributed to caregiving. By focusing on these diverse types of male caregiving, this article challenges the ways in which “care” and “women” are often neatly linked and calls for a rethinking of stereotypes associating African men with violence.

Caregivers’ perception of risk for malaria, helminth infection and malaria-helminth co-infection among children living in urban and rural settings of Senegal: A qualitative study.

The parasites causing malaria, soil-transmitted helminthiasis and schistosomiasis frequently co-exist in children living in low-and middle-income countries, where existing vertical control programmes for the control of these diseases are not operating at optimal levels. This gap necessitates the development and implementation of strategic interventions to achieve effective control and eventual elimination of these co-infections. Central to the successful implementation of any intervention is its acceptance and uptake by caregivers whose perception about the risk for malaria-helminth co-infection has been little documented.

Ebola-Myths, Realities, and Structural Violence

This briefing examines responses to the Ebola outbreak and offers a different set of explanations, rooted in the history of the region and the political economy of global health and development.

Adding Scepticism About ‘Environmentality’: Gender Exclusion Through a Natural Resources Collectivization Initiative in Dionewar, Senegal

Research on the commons has demonstrated the capacity of local people to define efficient common resource management institutions and organizations that enforce them. However, little is still known about the motivations of the actors that craft bottom-up institutions. Environmentality proponents tie such motivations to the environmental awareness coming from local participation in previous governmental interventions in natural resource governance. This chapter is a critique of the environmentality concept.

Accepted monitoring or endured quarantine? Ebola contacts’ perceptions in Senegal

During the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola epidemic, transmission chains were controlled through contact tracing, i.e., identification and follow-up of people exposed to Ebola cases. WHO recommendations for daily check-ups of physical symptoms with social distancing for 21 days were unevenly applied and sometimes interpreted as quarantine. Criticisms arose regarding the use of coercion and questioned contact tracing on ethical grounds. This article aims to analyze contact cases’ perceptions and acceptance of contact monitoring at the field level. In Senegal, an imported case of Ebola virus disease in September 2014 resulted in placing 74 contact cases in home containment with daily visits by volunteers. An ethnographic study based on in-depth interviews with all stakeholders performed in September-October 2014 showed four main perceptions of monitoring: a biosecurity preventive measure, suspension of professional activity, stigma attached to Ebola, and a social obligation. Contacts demonstrated diverse attitudes.

A story of abandonment: settlements and landscape in the Niokolo-Koba National Park, Senegal

Environmental migration is a growing concern of academics and policymakers, who foresee a rise in the number of such migrants. However, most prevailing academic and policy discourses ignore the variety of perceptions of environmental changes among people living in highly affected areas across the world. The authors examine the perceptions of environmental changes and how these are seen to be relevant to migration in Senegal, DR Congo, and Morocco. In total, they conducted 410 interviews with people living in two regions in each of these countries. Results indicate differences in the perception of environmental changes across regions, gender, education, and livelihoods. The economic activities of individuals determine exposure and sensitivity to environmental changes, while educational levels increase familiarity with prevailing environmental discourses and policies. Despite country-specific and regional differences across research sites, few people perceived environmental factors as directly related to their own or family members’ migration projects.

A Qualitative Study on How Perceptions of Environmental Changes are Linked to Migration in Morocco, Senegal, and DR Congo

Environmental migration is a growing concern of academics and policymakers, who foresee a rise in the number of such migrants. However, most prevailing academic and policy discourses ignore the variety of perceptions of environmental changes among people living in highly affected areas across the world. The authors examine the perceptions of environmental changes and how these are seen to be relevant to migration in Senegal, DR Congo, and Morocco. In total, they conducted 410 interviews with people living in two regions in each of these countries. Results indicate differences in the perception of environmental changes across regions, gender, education, and livelihoods. The economic activities of individuals determine exposure and sensitivity to environmental changes, while educational levels increase familiarity with prevailing environmental discourses and policies. Despite country-specific and regional differences across research sites, few people perceived environmental factors as directly related to their own or family members’ migration projects.

A History of Urban Planning and Infectious Diseases: Colonial Senegal in the Early Twentieth Century

This paper deals with the spatial implications of the French sanitary policies in early colonial urban Senegal. It focuses on the French politics of residential segregation following the outbreak of the bubonic plague in Dakar in 1914, and their precedents in Saint Louis. These policies can be conceived as most dramatic, resulting in a displacement of a considerable portion of the indigenous population, who did not want or could not afford to build à l’européen, to the margins of the colonial city. Aspects of residential segregation are analysed here through the perspective of cultural history and history of colonial planning and architecture, in contrast to the existing literature on this topic.

Comment une Cellule d’Analyse Intégrée des Epidémies (AIE) répond aux questions opérationnelles (FR)

 
L’objectif de notre partenariat est de faciliter et encourager les communautés et les autorités sanitaires à concevoir des stratégies de Santé Publique responsables, redevables et efficaces reposant sur l’analyse de données objectives et multisectorielles. L’AIE adopte une approche holistique : des questions de recherche aux données recueillies ou consultées, en passant par l’interprétation des résultats et les recommandations qui en découlent. Enfin, l’AIE met l’accent sur l’intégration par les autorités sanitaires de tous les acteurs de la réponse, des communautés aux partenaires, et encourage le développement conjoint de recommandations d’activités de réponse.
pour plus d’informations, merci de contacter [email protected]
We are grateful to https://drawnalism.com/ for the great work!

How Integrated Outbreak Analytics (IOA) answers operational questions (ENG)

 
IOA aims to drive comprehensive, accountable, and effective public health and clinical strategies by enabling communities, and national and subnational health authorities to use data for operational decision-making. IOA embraces a holistic approach: from the research questions to the data that are collected or accessed, to the interpretation of results and the recommendations that follow. In addition, IOA promotes co-development and monitoring of evidence-informed recommendations with Ministries of Health.
 
for more information on IOA, please contact [email protected]
 
We are grateful to https://drawnalism.com/ for the great work!

People’s Agenda for Pandemic Preparedness

Research from 25 countries across six continents by over 50 researchers: What do people need to recover from pandemics? How do people think we should prepare and respond differently for the next pandemic?

Community-Based Surveillance in Public Health

Recent large-scale epidemics and pandemics have demonstrated the importance of engaging communities as partners in preventing, detecting and responding to public health emergencies. Community-based surveillance (CBS), which relies on communities to report public health information, can be an important part of effective, inclusive and accountable responses to humanitarian and public health emergencies, as well as long-term disease control.
This brief offers key considerations for CBS programming to guide policymakers, public health officials, civil society organisations, health workers, researchers, advocates, and others interested in health surveillance. It is based on a rapid review of CBS guidance and social science literature. It was written by Jennifer Palmer and Diane Duclos (both London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, LSHTM) with contributions by Mariam Sharif (École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, EHESS). It was reviewed by Ruwan Ratnayake (LSHTM), Maysoon Dahab (LSHTM) and Luisa Enria (LSHTM).

Views of mpox in Nigeria

This photo story explores how mpox is felt and understood by different people in Nigeria – including those with symptoms, the wider community and healthcare workers.

Sudan: A political marketplace framework analysis

This paper provides a succinct analysis of Sudan as a political marketplace, offering a framework for analysing the Sudanese predicament so as to understand the implications of different courses of action.

Egypt: Police target Sudanese refugee activists

This Human Rights Watch article describes the political conditions and recent experiences of Sudanese refugees in Egypt which may shape how current Sudanese refugees are treated in the country.

Protection analysis update

This update analyses priority protection risks and recommendations with findings based on an analysis of protection monitoring actors and assessments by the Protection Sector, its AoRs, protection partners and reports produced by other agencies.

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