Search
Search within Environmental Disasters
126 results found
Case study
Enhancing Community Engagement Through Data Collection: Controlling the Cholera Epidemic in Mozambique fr
Case study focusing on post-cyclone cholera response activities
Evidence review
The Context of Sofala and Manica in Relation to Cyclone Idai Response in Mozambique
Rapid review question: What contextual factors (e.g. community structures and dynamics) are relevant in the urban and rural areas affected by cyclone Idai (Sofala and Manica provinces)? How do social and cultural factors shape communication and community engagement strategies across…
Evidence review
Health-Seeking Behaviours in Sofala and Manica in Relation to Cyclone Idai Response
Rapid review question: What are the health-seeking and nutritional practices of the affected populations? How do they frame, understand and engage in prevention of cholera/AWD, malaria, measles/rubella (or vaccine preventable diseases); infant and child feeding and other relevant diseases? What…
Briefing
Assessing Drought Displacement Risk for Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali Pastoralists
This study represents an initial attempt to assess patterns of displacement related to droughts in selected countries of the Horn of Africa, specifically the border regions of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. The study explores several scenarios to identify potential impacts…
Evidence review
Effects of Climate Change on the Social & Environmental Determinants of Health in Africa
The authors present current evidence on how climate change impacts on social and environmental determinants of health and the link between these determinants and the vulnerability of local communities. They outline proven community-based interventions that local populations in developing countries…
Background report
Prioritising Health Activities in Humanitarian Crises
The Sphere Humanitarian Charter states that: All people should have access to health services that are prioritised to address the main causes of excess mortality and morbidity. There are a number of handbooks to aid prioritisation in crisis situations (highlighted…
Evidence review
Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Relief Efforts
More must be done to ensure the needs and rights of people with disabilities are fully recognised in disaster risk reduction and emergency responses. Accelerating progress will require inclusive humanitarian programming and the use of technological solutions to be effectively…
Evidence review
Revisiting Therapeutic Governance: The Politics of Mental Health and Psychosocial Programmes in Humanitarian Settings
In the last thirty years, humanitarian programmes have increasingly sought to preserve not only physical life and health, but also to address psychological needs and promote social well-being. This growing prioritisation of psychological issues in humanitarian settings can be seen…
Psychosocial Intervention in Complex Emergencies: A Framework for Practice
This working paper sets about developing a common framework that summarises key knowledge in the field of psychosocial interventions in emergencies in order to provide agencies with some tools’ for making decisions about the type of interventions they can implement.…
Evidence review
Nutrition Interventions for Older People in Emergencies
In emergency situations, older people may find it hard to access food. For example, when they are displaced, older people may face difficulties in registering for the general food rations, meet challenges in accessing food distributions and difficulties transporting the…
Background report
Strategic Review of DFID support to the Health and Population Sector in Pakistan and Recommendations for Future Support
The objective of this strategic review is to produce evidence-based options and recommendations for DFID’s strategy for engagement in Pakistan’s health and population sector over the next 3-5 years.The report suggests approaches that will work with- rather than just through–…
Evidence review
Drought-Ravaged Malawi Faces Largest Humanitarian Emergency in its History
With 6.5 million people in need of humanitarian aid, this year’s El Nino–induced drought constitutes the largest humanitarian emergency that Malawi has ever confronted. It also brings the second consecutive harvest failure to this small, landlocked country, which has yet…
Evidence review
Coming of Age: Communication’s Role in Powering Global Health
Communication has been a consistent current running through many major health developments of recent years. And yet, despite the demonstrated promise of communication as a tool for improving public health, not enough has been done to date to capitalise upon…
Evidence review
Still Left in the Dark? How People in Emergencies Use Communication to Survive – and How Humanitarian Agencies Can Help
In 2008, a BBC World Service Trust policy briefing argued that people affected by earthquakes, floods or other emergencies often lacked the information they needed to survive and that this only added to their stress and anxiety. Left in the…
Evidence review
Using Media and Communication to Respond to Public Health Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Ebola
Failings during the early months of the Ebola outbreak caused the epidemic to become an unprecedented health crisis in West Africa. This cannot be repeated.
Briefing
Famine in Somalia and the Failure of Data-Driven Humanitarianism
Andrew Seal and Rob Bailey discuss the limitations of data-driven humanitarian efforts, and the lessons learned from the 2011 Somalia famine.
Briefing
Water and Sanitation in Humanitarian Emergencies
In a humanitarian crisis a population’s needs are great and many–for medical attention, shelter, safe water and adequate sanitation, food, and security. Disasters that occur in places that are already resource-poor and underserviced are more devastating than they might otherwise…
Briefing
Malaria Control in Emergencies: Time for Action
Estrella Lasry, Tropical Advisor to MSF, on measures taken by the organisation to predict and prevent malaria outbreaks in emergency situations.
Briefing
NCDs in Humanitarian Crisis
Access to essential medications, such as insulin, must be improved and the impact of NCD preventive activities and preparedness for crisis further addressed. Although this seems an insurmountable task, the impressive progress that has been made in the management of…
Evidence review
Health, Shocks and Poverty Persistence
In this paper we review the evidence on the impact of large shocks, such as drought, on child and adult health, with particular emphasis on Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. Our focus is on the impact of shocks on long-term outcomes, and…
Evidence review
Interrelationships among Health, Environment Quality, and Economic Activity. What Consequences for Economic Convergence?
This paper examines the link between health indicators, environmental variables, and economic development, and the consequences of this relationship on economic convergence. In the early stage of economic development, the gain from income growth could be cancelled or mitigated by…
Evidence review
Health and the Urban Transition. Effects of Household Perceptions, Illness, and Environmental Pollution on Clean Water Investment
Recent efforts to reinvigorate the connections between urban planning and health have usefully brought the field back to one of its original roles. Current research, however, has focused on industrialized cities, overlooking some of the important urbanization processes in poor…
Briefing
Responding to Crises: What Can We Do? What’s Next?
Although sometimes over used, the word ‘crisis’ accurately describes many challenges of today’s world, such as climage change, war and refugees, economic volatility, pandemics, and the continuing unmet needs of the poor, hungry, and neglected. While much has been achieved — in…
Evidence review
Gold Mining Pollution and the Cost of Private Healthcare: The Case of Ghana
To attract greater levels of foreign direct investment into their gold mining sectors, many mineral-rich countries in sub-Saharan Africa have been willing to overlook serious instances of mining company non-compliance with environmental standards. These lapses in regulatory oversight and enforcement…
Evidence review
Culture and Mental Health in Haiti
This paper reviews and summarizes the available literature on Haitian mental health and mental health services. This review was conducted in light of the Haitian earthquake in January 2010. We searched Medline, Google Scholar and other available databases to gather…
Evidence review
A Plan to Strengthen Community Resilience to Drought in Southern Africa
This plan aims to reinforce community resilience to food insecurity by strengthening the following areas: access to and availability of food; household food security and nutrition and livelihoods; community-based disaster risk reduction; access to safe water and hygiene, and health…
Briefing
Famine in Somalia: Causes and Solutions
The UN announcement of famine in Somalia is both a wake-up call to the scale of this disaster, and a wake-up call to the solutions needed to limit death-from-hunger now and in the future. So, what is famine and how…
Futures thinking
Humanitarian trends in Southern Africa: challenges and opportunities
This report gives the findings of field research, secondary data analysis and detailed interrogation of humanitarian emergencies, and proposes six broad clusters of potential threats.
Background report
Health and Climate Change: Key Linkages in Southern Africa
Climate change has major health implications for developing countries but the links are often not well understood. This report describes the current and predicted climate impacts on human health in southern Africa. It presents a view of existing health vulnerabilities…
Background report
A Public Health Approach to the Impact of Climate Change on Health in Southern Africa – Identifying Priority Modifiable Risks
Anthropogenic climate change and anticipated adverse effects on human health as outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are taken as givens. A conceptual model for thinking about the spectrum of climate-related health risks ranging from distal and…
Evidence review
Potential Impact of Climate Change on Livestock Production and Health in East Africa: A Review
Agriculture and livestock are amongst the most climate sensitive economic sectors in the developing countries whilst the rural poor communities are more vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. Climate change is real and is happening now. Current knowledge…
Evidence review
Managing Climate Extremes and Disasters in Africa: Lessons from the IPCC SREX report
The Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to AdvanceClimate Change Adaptation(SREX) was commissioned by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)in response to a recognised need to provide specific advice on climate change, extreme weather…
Evidence review
Climate Change and Health in SADC Region: Review of the Current State of Knowledge
Evidence shows that the SADC region is experiencing increasing frequency of hot days and decreasing frequency of extremely cold days. Rainfall trends are variable but evidence points to an increased inter-annual variability, with extremely wet periods and more intense droughts…
Evidence review
El Niño: Overview of Impact, Projected Humanitarian Needs and Response as of 02 June 2016
The humanitarian impact of the 2015-2016 El Niño remains deeply alarming, now affecting over 60 million people. Central America, East Africa (particularly Ethiopia), the Pacific and Southern Africa remain the most affected regions. The El Niño phenomenon is now in decline, but projections indicate the situation will worsen…
Background report
Climate Change and Health across Africa: Issues and Options
This working paper lays out the current state of knowledge regarding direct and indirect impacts of environmental factors on health across Africa. While there are many uncertainties in magnitudes of climate change, particularly with timing, the existing literature makes interesting…
Briefing
Impacts on Health of Climate Extremes
This chapter summarizes what is known about the historical effects of climate extremes on human health. The following section describes studies of infectious diseases and climate extremes related to El Niño Southern Oscillation. The next considers the impacts of short-term…
