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Case study
Strengthening health information surveillance: Implementing community-based surveillance in Sudan ar
This case study explores the 2018–22 implementation of a national community-based surveillance programme in Sudan designed to meet critical needs of the existing health surveillance system.
Briefing
Community-Based Surveillance in Public Health arfr
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…
Multimedia
Mpox in Nigeria – lessons from diverse experiences
Lessons from the 2022 mpox public health emergency in Nigeria are documented in a comic illustrated by Tim Zocco, produced in collaboration with the research team which studied the outbreak.
Multimedia
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.
Briefing
Situational analysis: Marburg virus disease in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania fres
This Key Considerations brief provides an overview of the Marburg virus disease outbreaks in Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania, as well as contextual factors to inform considerations for responses in both countries.
Report
Sudan: Update on the humanitarian situation with a focus on the impact on healthcare
This thematic report provides an update on the impact of conflict on Sudan’s healthcare system using a secondary data review of public sources.
Report
WHO Multi-country outbreak of cholera, External situation report #1
This report summarises the current status of the cholera outbreak across 24 countries that are reporting cases. WHO has assessed the global risk level as very high.
Research paper
‘There Were Moments We Wished She Could Just Die’: The Highly Gendered Burden of Nodding Syndrome in Northern Uganda
Nodding Syndrome (NS) occurs within a wide spectrum of epilepsies seen in onchocerciasis endemic areas of sub-Saharan Africa. It has debilitating consequences on affected individuals and increases the socio-economic, physical and psychological burden on care-givers and their households, diminishing their…
Research paper
Evaluation of public health surveillance systems in refugee settlements in Uganda, 2016-2019: lessons learned
Civil wars in the Great Lakes region resulted in massive displacement of people to neighboring countries including Uganda. With associated disease epidemics related to this conflict, a disease surveillance system was established aiming for timely detection of diseases and rapid…
Research paper
Gender relations and women’s reproductive health in South Sudan
Drawing on Connell’s relational theory of gender, the authors of this study conducted focus group discussion and interviews with Fertit women in South Sudan concerning their ability to control their reproductive lives. Women reported little choice over the childbearing demands…
Research paper
Health Sector Recovery in Early Post-Conflict Environments: Experience from Southern Sudan
Health sector recovery in post-conflict settings presents an opportunity for reform: analysis of policy processes can provide useful lessons. The case of southern Sudan is assessed through interviews, literature review, and by drawing on experiences of former technical advisers to…
Research paper
The Oughtness of Care: Fear, Stress, and Caregiving during the 2000–2001 Ebola Outbreak in Gulu, Uganda
In this article we introduce the term oughtness of care to show how caring for sick relatives was experienced in the context of the Ebola outbreak in Gulu, Uganda, in 2000–2001.
Research paper
Dirty Things: Spiritual Pollution and Life after the Lord’s Resistance Army
Drawing on insights gleaned from ethnographic fieldwork over the last decade, we focus here on targeted research from January to August 2014 with former LRA individuals who were part of a bigger study of clients at an ex-combatant reception centre.…
Research paper
Silencing Distressed Children in the Context of War in Northern Uganda: An Analysis of its Dynamics and its Health Consequences
Children in northern Uganda who are the focus of this article were born and raised in the context of war. The research presented here is based on a one-year ethnographic study (2004–2005) with children aged 9–16 years.
Research paper
Training Theories of Mind in Post-conflict Northern Uganda
In this article, I explore how NGOs train local Acholi counselors to work with psychiatric notions of trauma and practice counseling with local clients.
Background report
The COVID-19 Pandemic Vulnerability Factors in South Sudan
This analysis identifies and discusses the COVID-19 vulnerability factors in South Sudan, including the country’s reliance on humanitarian assistance and imports, economic reliance on oil, weak healthcare system, population density, informal settlements, natural disasters, poverty and illiteracy, and a fragile…
Background report
The Nature and Magnitude of the COVID-19 Outbreak in South Sudan [May 2020]
This 2020 Policy Brief examines data on COVID-19 infections in South Sudan. It shows that COVID-19 preventive measures instituted in March were ineffective, that the effect of the virus varied by both age and sex of patients and that elderly…
Background report
Economic Policy during the COVID-19 Pandemic in South Sudan
This Weekly Review, from October 23, 2020, analyses the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Sudan, and specifically focuses on production, the performance of the commodity and foreign exchange markets, and resultant government policy interventions. It concludes by…
Background report
COVID-19 and the Political Transition in South Sudan
This Policy Brief assesses the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic has hampered the political transition in South Sudan and how political actors have responded to the crisis in terms of their responsibilities implementing the Agreement on the Resolution of…
Background report
Will the Impact of the Pandemic on the Expected National Output Persist?
This Weekly Review, from June 3, 2021, contributes to the debate on how COVID-19 could affect economic growth in South Sudan. It addresses two related questions: What channels would transmit the COVID-19 scarring effects to the output? What can public…
Background report
Protecting South Sudan from the Ebola Virus Disease: Policy Implications
This Weekly Review, from October 25, 2022, draws from the Second Round of the EVD Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) assessment conducted in South Sudan in 2019 to highlight the implications of the recent Ebola Virus Disease events in Uganda…
Briefing
Impact of Nyiragongo Volcanic Eruptions on the Resilience to the COVID-19 and Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Eruptions of the Nyiragongo volcano in May 2021 caused unfathomable damage, including loss of life and property, and displacement of thousands of people, affecting the city of Goma in particular. Furthermore, it charred health and school infrastructures and decimated crops…
Research paper
The Violence of Healing
This essay discusses violence and healing in response to war, drawing attention to the idea that violence and healing are often closely interconnected, and what may be judged to be violent acts can be expected to play a crucial role…
Research paper
Justice at the Margins: Witches, Poisoners, and Social Accountability in Northern Uganda
Recent responses to people alleged to be ‘witches’ or ‘poisoners’ among the Madi of northern Uganda are compared with those of the 1980s. From 2006, a democratic system for dealing with suspects was introduced, whereby those receiving the highest number…
Research paper
Quests for Therapy in Northern Uganda: Healing at Laropi Revisited
This article presents a case of diachronic ethnography. It examines quests for therapy among the Madi people of northern Uganda. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in and around the small trading centre of Laropi; originally in the…
Research paper
Deworming Delusions? Mass Drug Administration in East African Schools
Recent debates about deworming school-aged children in East Africa have been described as the ‘Worm Wars’. The stakes are high. Deworming has become one of the top priorities in the fight against infectious diseases. Staff at the World Health Organization,…
Research paper
Assessment of infection prevention and control readiness for Ebola virus and other diseases outbreaks in a humanitarian crisis setting: a cross-sectional study of health facilities in six high-risk States of South Sudan
This study uses data from a structured questionnaire to assess the readiness and capacity of 151 health facilities across six states in Couth Sudan. It found that facilities most lacked a coordination committee structure (13.19%), guidelines and SOPs (21.85%), vector…
Research paper
Analyses of the performance of the Ebola virus disease alert management system in South Sudan: August 2018 to November 2019
This research paper analysed the performance of the Ebola alert management system, established in response to the Ebola outbreak in DRC in August 2018. EVD alerts reported in South Sudan in 2018-19 were anlaysed using quantitative and qualitative data. Strengths…
Policy document
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Preparedness and Readiness Update for South Sudan Update: #002 (13 November 2022)
Government of South Sudan/WHO-produced weekly summary of changes in the situation regarding EVD case incidence, public health preparedness and readiness, challenges/gaps and recommendations.
Policy document
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Preparedness and Readiness Update for South Sudan Update: #003
Government of South Sudan/WHO-produced weekly summary of changes in the situation regarding EVD case incidence, public health preparedness and readiness, challenges/gaps and recommendations.
Background report
Community Approaches to Epidemic Management in South Sudan: Lessons from local healthcare systems in tackling COVID-19
Recognising the long experience and knowledge South Sudanese people have of infectious diseases and their responses, this research documents the various community infectious disease management strategies employed in the Yei, Juba, Wau, Malakal, Aweil West and Rubkona areas. Such responses…
Research paper
Using feminist ‘reflexive practice’ to explore stress and well-being of local researchers in South Sudan
This article shares key findings and offer personal reflections on and suggestions for improving gender-based violence research using feminist methods. The authors reflect that while they themselves valued the sharing of personal reflections on emotional challenges that the research team…
Research paper
Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation and Research: Reflections on the Research Approach Used to Understand the Complexity of Maternal Health Issues in South Sudan
How can contextualised data be collected in a short time in conflict-affected sites? This paper shows how a Participatory Ethnographic Evaluation and Research (PEER) approach can overcome many of the challenges of conducting research in such conditions. Here, the authors…
Research paper
Measuring health system resilience in a highly fragile nation during protracted conflict: South Sudan 2011–15
Complementing real-time data with survey data collected in South Sudan at independence (2011) and following 2 years of protracted conflict (2015), this study constructed and then compared a resilience index and stress index. Overall maternal, neonatal and child health coverage…
Research paper
Maternal Vaccination in Uganda: Exploring Pregnant Women, Community Leaders and Healthcare Workers’ Perceptions
This research used qualitative methods to explore pregnant women, community leaders, healthcare workers, and programme managers’ perceptions of maternal vaccination in Kampala, Uganda. The authors found that public health messaging should target all community members, including partners and parents of…
Policy document
Uganda National Technical Guidelines for IDSR, Third Edition
Uganda Ministry of Health National Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response, Third Edition (September 2021). These official guidelines set out the Government of Uganda’s policies and strategy concerning public health surveillance, early warning and response.
