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Report
A review of the social and behavioural science research landscape for mpox in African settings
This report maps and synthesises social and behavioural science studies on mpox in sub-Saharan Africa from 2017 until December 2025.
Case study
SSHAP learning note: Building a localised approach
This learning note shares insights, experiences and lessons from SSHAP's approach to the localisation of its operational responses in sub-Saharan Africa.
Briefing
Key considerations: Home-based care for mpox in Central and East Africa fr
This brief outlines key considerations on health system requirements for safe and inclusive home-based care for mpox.
Briefing
Mpox response in urban informal settlements fr
This brief highlights key issues and good practices that can be carried into the design and delivery of mpox response activities in urban informal settlements.
Factsheet
Remote response to Ebola outbreak in DRC fr
The Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform is supporting UNICEF, WHO, IFRC and other partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo to respond to the Ebola outbreak in Equateur Province. The Platform has four key streams of action: 1) Rapid…
Research paper
Diagnosis, treatment, and management of mpox in urban informal settlements in southwestern Nigeria: an ethnographic approach
This paper, based on an ethnographic study in southwestern Nigeria, seeks to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of not only the health care access barriers, but the complex geographical, economic, and sociocultural factors that shape how and when people…
Research paper
Mpox and the men who have sex with men (MSM) community in Nigeria: Exploratory insights from MSM and persons providing healthcare services to them
This paper explores mpox awareness, knowledge, and experiences among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Lagos, Nigeria, to provides insights to improve Nigeria's mpox response and inform similar public health efforts in Africa where MSM criminalisation complicates MSM…
Research paper
Infrastructures of epidemic response: mpox and everyday repair work in southwestern Nigeria
This paper examines community-based surveillance and primary health care as intersecting infrastructures to draw learning from lived experiences of mpox and the response to the mpox outbreak in southwestern Nigeria during 2022-23.
Briefing
Post-trauma impacts in conflict-affected communities in northern Nigeria
This Key Considerations brief compares the biomedical framing of post-traumatic stress disorder with the social science understanding of the drivers of and possible solutions for mental health impacts of trauma.
Briefing
Addressing the kush epidemic in Sierra Leone
This Key Considerations brief contextualises and provides insight into an epidemic which is symptomatic of deeper, long-standing issues which require sustained and comprehensive solutions beyond immediate emergency measures.
Briefing
Addressing the humanitarian needs of forced rural-to-city migrants in north-west Nigeria with a focus on mental health vulnerability
This Fellows Brief calls for action to address the needs of a hitherto underserved, internally displaced people.
Report
Meeting report: Mpox and discrimination in African settings fr
This report summarises contributions from speakers and participants at a Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP)-organised online meeting to discuss mpox and discrimination issues in African settings, and operational responses to mpox that are contextually sensitive.
Question Bank
Tools
Mpox question bank: Qualitative questions for community-level data collection frpt
A Question Bank for use by field teams and local research teams working in communities with mpox transmission and those at risk of transmission with the aim of supporting the collection and use of consistent and high-quality social and behavioural…
Briefing
Mpox, mining, and vulnerabilities of women and children in eastern DRC fr
This Key Considerations brief presents considerations for contextualising and responding to the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, focusing on women and children living and working in artisanal and small-scale mining areas.
Background report
Epidemic preparedness and response in Senegal fr
This report summarises a roundtable discussion which aimed to share strategic information from social science research, help actors in epidemic preparedness and response put in place targeted and appropriate interventions, and highlight the roles social science researchers can play in…
Infographic
Risk communication and community engagement for mpox vaccination in Eastern DRC fr
This infographic summarises insights from the SSHAP briefing 'Key Considerations: Risk Communication and Community Engagement for Mpox in Eastern DRC', presenting social and political considerations for the design and implementation of vaccination-related risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies.
Briefing
Risk communication and community engagement for mpox vaccination in eastern DRC fr
This Key Considerations brief presents social and political considerations for the design and implementation of vaccination-related risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) strategies for mpox in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Briefing
SSHAP West Africa Hub: Health emergency cycles and social context in West Africa fr
This landscape paper summarises the contextual factors that shape health emergencies and responses to health emergencies in the West Africa region, drawing on examples from Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone.
Report
Roundtable Report: Discussion on mpox in DRC and social science considerations for operational response fr
This report synthesises the discussions at a SSHAP-organised roundtable on the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo held in May 2024 to appraise the situation, with a focus on social science insights for informing context-sensitive risk communication…
Briefing
Effective vaccine rollout and uptake in Sierra Leone
This Key Considerations brief proposes key considerations for ongoing vaccination efforts in Sierra Leone, including for the hepatitis vaccine and new malaria vaccine (RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S)), offering insights on planning equitable vaccine campaigns for new infections.
Infographic
Responding to floods in South Sudan through the humanitarian-peace-development nexus infographic arfr
This infographic summarises the insights from a recent key considerations brief on responding to floods in South Sudan, describing the multidimensional impacts of flooding on peace, health, livelihoods and governance.
Briefing
Responding to floods in South Sudan through the humanitarian-peace-development nexus arfr
This Key Considerations brief looks at interconnected problems in the context of South Sudan through a focus on flooding, with wider relevance to other countries in the region, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, experiencing similar…
Report
Conflict-sensitive returns and integration in South Sudan
This research aims to provide a stronger understanding of the risks and opportunities associated with ‘returns’ and ‘integration’ in South Sudan, as well as highlight opportunities for conflict-sensitive (re)integration and early solutions activities.
Report
A Study of Socio-Cultural Practices and COVID-19 Preventive Measures in South Sudan
The study principally investigates whether the socio-cultural practices of South Sudanese influence their responses to COVID-19 measures that the Government of South Sudan has adopted to stop the spread of the virus. Its findings record the ways in which they…
Infographic
Crisis in Sudan: Note on displacement from Sudan to South Sudan ar
This infographic summarises the insights from a recent briefing note on displacement due to the crisis in Sudan.
Briefing
Crisis in Sudan: Briefing note on displacement from Sudan to South Sudan ar
This Key Considerations brief focuses on the historical and socio-political dynamics humanitarian agencies need to consider when providing assistance to South Sudanese fleeing Khartoum and other parts of Sudan to South Sudan, and to Sudanese fleeing Sudan to South Sudan.
Nigeria Humanitarian Situation Report No.4: 1 January to 31 December 2022
Summanrises the humanitarian situation in Nigeria.
Policy document
Technical Guidelines for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in Nigeria
The goal of IDSR is to improve the ability of LGAs to detect and respond to diseases and conditions that cause high levels of death, illness and disability in the LGA‘s catchment area. Strengthening skills and resources for integrated disease…
National Action Plan for Health Security, Nigeria
The National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) is a comprehensive multi-sectoral plan that integrates multiple workplans including REDISSE, NCDC Strategy Plan, AMR Action Plan, and immunizations plans, addressing the major gaps identified by the Joint External Evaluation (2017) and…
Policy document
Pandemic Influenza Strategic Plan (PISP) Jan 2020 to Dec 2024
The Government of Sierra Leone’s plan for tackling a future influenz\a pandemic, written just before the Covid-19 outbreak.
Policy document
National Ebola Recovery Strategy for Sierra Leone 2015–2017
The Sierra Leone government’s immediate post-Ebola strategy for rebuilding the health system during and after the 2014-16 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…
Discriminate biopower and everyday biopolitics: views on sickle cell testing in Dakar
Many physicians in Senegal and France, where most Senegalese sickle cell specialists are partially trained, assume that genetic testing that could imply selective abortion for people with sickle cell would run counter to the religious and cultural ethics of people…
“Right tool,” wrong “job”: Manual vacuum aspiration, post-abortion care and transnational population politics in Senega
The “rightness” of a technology for completing a particular task is negotiated by medical professionals, patients, state institutions, manufacturing companies, and non-governmental organizations. This paper shows how certain technologies may challenge the meaning of the “job” they are designed to…
Community health care workers in pursuit of TB: Discourses and dilemmas
Community-led tuberculosis (TB) active case finding is widely promoted, heavily funded, but many efforts fail to meet expectations. The underlying reasons why TB symptom screening programs underperform are poorly understood. This study examines Nigerian stakeholders’ insights to characterize the mechanisms,…
Vaccine anxieties, vaccine preparedness: Perspectives from Africa in a Covid-19 era
Global debates about vaccines as a key element of pandemic response and future preparedness in the era of Covid-19 currently focus on questions of supply, with attention to global injustice in vaccine distribution and African countries as rightful beneficiaries of…
