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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…
Evidence review
Women and Girls Safe Spaces – A Guidance Note Based on Lessons Learned from the Syrian Crisis
The creation of women and girls safe spaces (WGSS) has emerged as a key strategy for the protection and empowerment of women and girls affected by the Syrian crisis. This document provides an overview of what safe spaces are and…
Background report
Women and Health: The Key for Sustainable Development
Girls’ and women’s health is in transition and, although some aspects of it have improved substantially in the past few decades, there are still important unmet needs. Population ageing and transformations in the social determinants of health have increased the…
Evidence review
Understanding Social Resistance to Ebola Response in Guinea
This paper seeks to understand the fear many Guineans feel towards Ebola response initiatives and why the educators, doctors and burial teams have sometimes encountered resistance, occasionally violent.
Briefing
Urbanisation, the Peri-Urban Growth and Zoonotic Disease
Ebola has had significant, negative effects in the rapidly expanding, unregulated areas of peri-urban and urban West Africa. The residents of these areas maintain vital connections with rural populations while intermingling with and living in close proximity to urban and…
Evidence review
Visions, Voices and Priorities of Young People Living With and Most Affected by HIV
This report shares perspectives and insights from young people from around the world living with and affected by HIV, who share their visions for realising and claiming their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and for setting priorities for…
Comment
Social science intelligence in the global Ebola response
Correspondence on continued poor integration of social sciences during global health crises.
Briefing
Managing Health Crises After Ebola: Key Resources
Rachel Thomas maps out the various institutions involved in the response and reviews communication challenges. The ongoing outbreak of Ebola in West Africa is the largest and longest since the virus was discovered four decades ago. Many organisations have been…
Briefing
Managing Rumours and Misinformation in West Africa
Rumours about Ebola generated social challenges that were real but surmountable, finds Amzath Fassasi.
Briefing
Ethical Considerations in the Conduct of Research on Therapies for the Prevention and Treatment of Ebola Virus Disease in Developing Countries
The devastating toll of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa necessitates considerations of new approaches to research into new prevention technologies and treatments for Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). Research must be planned and delivered in consultation with civil society from…
Background report
Extending the “Social”: Anthropological Contributions to the Study of Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers
Emerging Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) offer a frontier for a “One-Health” research agenda; the joined-up, or collaborative, effort of multiple disciplines to attain optimal health for people, animals, and the environment (e.g. http://www.onehealthinitiative.com/). Multidisciplinary work on Lassa Fever and Ebola…
Background report
Food Strategy of Batwa Pygmies in Lake Tumba Landscape, Democratic Republic of Congo
The Pygmies are knowledgeable of the virtues of the biodiversity of their environment, including the food value ofthese species. This study report on food strategy developed by the Batwa and is based on a rich biodiversity. The authors conducted a household…
Background report
Institutional Choice and Fragmented Citizenship in Forestry and Development Interventions in Bikoro Territory of the Democratic Republic of Congo
Substantive citizenship is the ability of an individual to influence those who govern. In order to assess this ‘ability’, this study examined the powers of sanction possessed by individuals or groups and the accountability mechanisms at their disposal in three villages in…
Background report
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) on Rift Valley Fever among Pastoralist Communities of Ijara District, North Eastern Kenya
Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF), a mosquito-borne viral zoonosis, have previously been associated with unusually heavy rainfall and extensive flooding. The disease is a serious public health problem in Africa and the Middle East, and is a potential global…
Background report
Missing Bodies and Secret Funerals: The Production of “Safe and Dignified Burials” in the Liberian Ebola Crisis
During the height of the Ebola crisis in West Africa, public health responders and the international media focused on dead bodies as sites of disease transmission when early contact tracing discovered the relationship between attendance at funerals and emerging clusters…
Background report
Perceptions of Health Communication, Water Treatment and Sanitation in Artibonite Department, Haiti, March-April 2012
The international response to Haiti’s ongoing cholera outbreak has been multifaceted, including health education efforts by community health workers and the distribution of free water treatment products. Artibonite Department was the first region affected by the outbreak. Numerous organizations have…
Briefing
Strengthening Health Systems for Resilience
In countries with high levels of poverty or instability and with poor health system management and governance, people are highly vulnerable to shocks associated with ill health, including major epidemics. An effective health system can help build their resilience by…
Briefing
UNICEF Annual Report 2015, Democratic Republic of Congo
Despite noticeable progress in some dimensions of children’s rights and significant Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is a challenging place for most children and their families, particularly for those living in conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas. The national…
Case study
‘Resistance’ in Guinea
The following key considerations have been collated from the suggestions and insights provided by over twenty-five anthropologists and social-behavioural scientists (based in West Africa and internationally) who answered an on-line call to provide guidance and operational recommendations in relation to…
Briefing
Emergency Ebola Anthropology Network Advisory Brief: Culture and Clinical Trials fr
This advisory brief aims to provide anthropologically informed guidance to governmental and humanitarian actors involved in the Ebola response at local, national and international levels, about clinical trials for Ebola treatments, therapies and vaccines.
Briefing
Beyond a Public Health Emergency: Potential Secondary Humanitarian Impacts of a Large-Scale Ebola Outbreak
This report documents the secondary humanitarian problems and impacts of largescale Ebola outbreak on the different humanitarian sectors
Case study
Ebola outbreak in West Africa: Challenges to the reintegration of affected groups into communities
This report outlines the key challenges that Ebola survivors and their households, grieving families, orphans, quarantined people and frontline workers face as they reintegrate into their communities
Briefing
Ebola outbreak in West Africa 22 months: on Key issues for recovery and preparedness
While surveillance and treatment efforts to stop the transmission and re-emergence of Ebola continue, the response is moving away from its emergency phase towards longer-term recovery and building a more resilient health system.
Briefing
WASH in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone: The Impact of Ebola
This document summarises the baseline data on WASH available for Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone
Case study
Ebola in West Africa: Guinea: Resistance to the Ebola Response
This report aims to analyse the resistance to the Ebola response in Guinea, by outlining the current situation and the evolution over the course of the outbreak, and exploring underlying and aggravating factors.
Case study
Ebola in West Africa: Impact on Health Systems
Fear of contracting EVD and mistrust of the health system has made people reluctant to seek treatment from health facilities, further impacting the health sector and increasing the risk of mortality and morbidity from otherwise treatable diseases.
Research paper
Armed mobilisation and the nexus of territory, identity, and authority: the contested territorial aspirations of the Banyamulenge in eastern DR Congo
The closely intertwined notions of territory, identity, and authority are at the heart of conflict dynamics in the eastern DR Congo. Focusing on the territorial aspirations of the Banyamulenge community in South Kivu, this article looks at the ways in…
Briefing
Understanding Armed Group Proliferation in the Eastern Congo
Due to the proliferation of smaller armed groups and the disappearance and scattering of larger rebel movements, the armed group landscape of the eastern Congo has become increasingly fragmented. This fragmentation results from the interplay between the growing engagement of…
Book chapter
Urbanisation and the Political Geographies of Violent Struggle for Power and Control: Mining Boomtowns in Eastern Congo
This chapter addresses rural–urban transformations in the Kivu provinces, DRC, and more particularly focuses on the complex relationship between dynamics of violent conflict and the emergence of urban mining ‘boomtowns’. Mining towns offer fascinating sites from which to investigate the…
Research paper
Vigilantes, Witches and Vampires: How Moral Populism Shapes Social Accountability in Northern Uganda
Strange murders have occurred in northern Uganda. Blood is said to have been removed from the victims, and there are tales about child sacrifice and terrifying witchcraft. An ‘election’ was organised to select the culprit, known as ‘Mr Red’, and…
Book chapter
Life Beyond the Bubbles: Cognitive Dissonance and Humanitarian Impunity in Northern Uganda
International humanitarians work within bubbles. Humanitarians rely on rules and norms—from laws or principles, to religious and biomedical values, to best practice and ethical guidelines. The rules and norms create apparently coherent and predictable spaces.
Research paper
Population Displacement and Sustainable Development: The Significance of Environmental Sustainability in Refugee–Host Relationships in the Congo−Brazzaville Crises
The Republic of Congo experienced repeated outbreaks of armed conflicts between militiamen affiliated to three main political factions, which affected the socioeconomic fabrics of the Congolese society until late 2000. This paper examines the socioeconomic and environmental impact of interactions…
Research paper
‘And Then He Switched off the Phone’: Mobile Phones, Participation and Political Accountability in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State
This paper uses qualitative and quantitative original data to investigate the impact of mobile phones in situations of political contestation or conflict. We derive hypotheses from theories in general political science, and on the role of mobile phones specifically. These…
Report
Driven apart: How repeated displacement changes family dynamics in eastern DRC
This paper considers how the phenomenon of repeated displacement affects dynamics within displaced families and their ability to cope with the consequences. The analysis is based on data collected in Masisi (North Kivu) and Fizi (South Kivu) in 2015, including…
Briefing
Beyond Anarchy: Property, Precarity and Land Governance in Urban Congo
In the brief, we argue that these references to “anarchy” and “disorder” should not to be taken at face value. Instead, they are produced through daily practices of land governance.
Research paper
‘And Then He Switched off the Phone’: Mobile Phones, Participation and Political Accountability in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria State
This paper investigates the impact of mobile phones in situations of political contestation or conflict. According to theory, mobile phones could play a positive role in building a more accountable government, and with that, contribute to statebuilding. We examine to…
