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207 results found
Research paper
Structural drivers of vulnerability to zoonotic disease in Africa
This paper analyses three case studies—trypanosomiasis in Zimbabwe, Ebola and Lassa fever in Sierra Leone and Rift Valley fever in Kenya — to argue that addressing the underlying structural drivers of disease vulnerability is essential for a ‘One Health’ approach…
Research paper
Qualitative exploration of health system response to COVID-19 pandemic applying the WHO health systems framework: Case study of a Nigerian state
Health systems have an important role in a multi-sector response to pandemics, as there are already concerns that COVID-19 will significantly divert limited health care resources. This study appraised the readiness and resilience of the Nigerian health system to the…
Private sector engagement in the COVID-19 response: experiences and lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda
The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed health systems and precipitated coalitions between public and private sectors to address critical gaps in the response. We conducted a study to document the public and private sector partnerships and engagements to inform current and…
Political distrust and the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria
This study explores the impact of political distrust on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Policy response to COVID-19 in Senegal: power, politics, and the choice of policy instruments
The objective of the paper is to understand how Senegal formulated its policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The response was rapid, comprising conventional policy instruments used previously for containing Ebola.
Participating in a vaccine trial for COVID-19 in Senegal: trust and information
This research aims to understand the level and determinants of people’s willingness to participate in a vaccine trial for COVID-19 in Senegal.
Negotiating Intersecting Precarities: COVID-19, Pandemic Preparedness and Response in Africa
This article shares findings on COVID-19 in Africa across 2020 to examine concepts and practices of epidemic preparedness and response. Amidst uncertainties about the trajectory of COVID-19, the stages of emergency response emerge in practice as interconnected.
Local disease-ecosystem-livelihood dynamics: reflections from comparative case studies in Africa
This article explores the implications for human health of local interactions between disease, ecosystems and livelihoods. Five interdisciplinary case studies addressed zoonotic diseases in African settings: Rift Valley fever (RVF) in Kenya, human African trypanosomiasis in Zambia and Zimbabwe, Lassa…
Lessons learned from engaging communities for Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone: reciprocity, relatability, relationships and respect (the four R’s)
Building trust and engaging the community are important for biomedical trials. This was core to the set up and delivery of the EBOVAC-Salone and PREVAC Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone during and following the 2014–2016 West African Ebola epidemic.…
Imagining HIV/AIDS: Morality and perceptions of personal risk in Nigeria
The disparity between people’s knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the extent to which they take measures to protect themselves is one of the most vexing issues for public health workers and social science analysts. This paper aims to explain some of…
Exploring the cultural context of HIV/AIDS pandemic in a Nigerian community: Implication for culture specific prevention programmes
The new face of Human Immune Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) has earned its recognition as a social problem due to the associated devastating social and cultural consequences on the individual and the society at large. As such,…
Engaging ‘communities’: anthropological insights from the West African Ebola epidemic
This article reflects on the nature of community engagement during the Ebola epidemic and demonstrates a disjuncture between local realities and what is being imagined in post-Ebola reports about the lessons that need to be learned for the future.
COVID-19 in Senegal: Exploring the Historical Context
While many academics and popular journalists have recently addressed historical epidemics in the context of COVID-19, much of this literature concerns the history of former colonial powers rather than the history of formerly colonized states. This review finds that the…
Courting success in HIV/AIDS prevention: the challenges of addressing a concentrated epidemic in Senegal
This article presents findings from a study of HIV/AIDS programmes for urban sex workers in Dakar, Senegal. The objective of the research was to assess HIV prevention and treatment efforts to date, and to identify challenges that must be overcome…
Conjuring Biosecurity in the Post-Ebola Kissi Triangle: The Magic of Paperwork in a Frontier Clinic.
This article considers the increasing centrality of biosecurity and epidemiological surveillance as key priorities for the Sierra Leonean health care system after the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak.
Civilian perception of the role of the military in Nigeria’s 2014 Ebola outbreak and health-related responses in the North East region
Civilian–military relations play an important yet under-researched role in low-income and middle-income country epidemic response. One crucial component of civilian–military relations is defining the role of the military. This paper evaluates the role of Nigerian military during the 2014–2016 West…
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…
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.
Behavioural and emotional responses to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Nigeria: a narrative review
This paper reviews the behavioural and emotional responses to the 2014 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in Nigeria as documented in scientific publications and portrayed in the media between 21 July 2014 and 30 March 2015.
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…
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
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
Guidance Note on community engagement for cholera outbreak response in the East and Southern Africa region frpt
The purpose of this guidance note is to support Ministries of Health, UNICEF, and other response partners to design and implement effective, community-centred, and data-driven community engagement for cholera outbreak response.
Question Bank
Tools
Cholera question bank
These resources are intended to support operational social science research to be used in cholera preparedness and response activities.
Briefing
Socio-behavioural insight for community-centred cholera preparedness and response In Mozambique, 2023 pt
This brief explores socio-behavioural determinants including local knowledge, perceptions, practices, and structural factors influencing cholera transmission dynamics. The brief has been developed to support response actors develop prevention and control strategies to rapidly contain the outbreak and prepare for a…
Policy document
Strategic Response Plan For The Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak In The Provinces Of North Kivu And Ituri Democratic Republic Of The Congo July – December 2019 fr
This document sets out the Ministry of Health’s strategic response to the Ebola Virus outbreak in North Kivu and Ituri provinces in 2019. Taking into account the impact of insecurity in these regions, the plan details how the government planned…
Policy document
National Action Plan for Health Security, Republic of South Sudan
This National Action Plan for Health Security from the Republic of South Sudan details the country’s health security strategy for 2020-2024 including annual reporting, after action reviews, joint external evaluations, simulation exercises and other assessments, within a One Health framework.
Policy document
Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Preparedness and Readiness Update for South Sudan
This Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) Preparedness and Readiness Update from late 2022 was jointly presented by the Ministry of Health of South Sudan, and the WHO and details EVD alerts, and emergency preparedness activities in the country in response to…
Policy document
Monthly Humanitarian Situation Report South Sudan
This Situation Report from the WHO on South Sudan offers an overview of the humanitarian situation in January 2023, including the state of measles transmission and vaccination response, Covid-19 vaccination, cholera and the distribution of health emergency kits.
Research paper
Treatment-seeking and uptake of malaria prevention strategies among pregnant women and caregivers of children under-five years during COVID-19 pandemic in rural communities in South West Uganda: a qualitative study
Despite efforts to avert the negative effects of malaria, there remain barriers to the uptake of prevention measures, hindering its eradication. This qualitative case study explored factors influencing uptake of malaria prevention strategies among pregnant women and children under-five years…
Research paper
Vaccine anxieties, vaccine preparedness: Perspectives from Africa in a Covid-19 era
Global debates about vaccines in the era of Covid-19 currently focus on questions of supply, with attention to unjust global distribution. At the same time, vaccine demand and uptake are seen to be threatened by hesitancy, often attributed to a…
Research paper
‘Writing budgets for meetings and teas?’: a multitheoretical analysis of intragovernmental coordination for multisectoral action for health in Uganda
Coordination across policy domains and government agencies is considered critical for addressing complex challenges such as inequities, urbanisation and climate change. However, the factors influencing coordination among government entities in low-income and middle-income countries are not well known and theory-based…
Research paper
Clinical trials as disease control? The political economy of sleeping sickness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (1996-2016)
Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT), commonly known as sleeping sickness, is closer than ever to being eliminated as a public health problem. We analyse archives and in-depth interviews to explore the role the national HAT programme played in the Democratic Republic…
Research paper
A Situation Assessment of Community Health Workers’ Preparedness in Supporting Health System Response to COVID-19 in Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda
This paper reports a mixed methods study to assess the preparedness of Community Health Workers (CHWs) in supporting health system response in prevention and management of COVID-19 in Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda. Interviews were conducted with policy actors, health care…
Research paper
‘Where are the dead flies!’: perceptions of local communities towards the deployment of Tiny Targets to control tsetse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The National Programme for the control of human African trypanosomiasis in Democratic Republic of Congo includes a large-scale vector control operation using Tiny Targets. These are small panels of insecticide-impregnated cloth that are deployed in riverine habitat where tsetse flies…
