Search
Search within
1448 results found
Evidence review
Ebola Regional Lesson Learning
The Ebola outbreak currently affecting West Africa is the most serious trans-national medical emergency in modern times. It has the potential to become a global health crisis. Many of the countries affected already have weak health systems, which are now…
Background report
Futures thinking
Global health architecture: current and future
A report prepared to inform DFID on the strengths and weaknesses of the current global health architecture, and of the relevance and responsive of the health architecture for the post 2015 agenda.
Evidence review
Demographic Profile: Using Secondary Data
The purpose of this technical brief is to assist humanitarian workers in using secondary demographic data in emergencies. It recommends building a context specific demographic profile based on available information. It proposes some rule-of-thumb standards, which can be adapted to…
Evidence review
Secondary Data Review Sudden Onset Natural Disasters
The aim of these guidelines is to describe the systematic development of an SDR during the initial days and weeks after a disaster. It is based on ACAPS’ experience in developingSecondary Data Reviews for a number of Sudden Onset Disasters…
Evidence review
Quick and Easy Guide: Assessing Information & Communications Needs Booklet
Humanitarian needs assessments are carried out to determine the immediate needs of a population following an emergency or humanitarian crises. Once an assessment has been carried out and data has been analysed, humanitarian organisations can make key decisions about their…
Evidence review
Estimation of Affected Population Figures
This Technical Brief is for assessment experts, information management officers and information analysts planning or implementing assessments in emergency contexts. It provides guidance on how to select and use suitable methods when conducting a population estimation exercise.This technical brief builds…
Background report
Social Justice, Climate Change, and Dengue
Climate change should be viewed fundamentally as an issue of global justice. Understanding the complex interplay of climatic and socioeconomic trends is imperative to protect human health and lessen the burden of diseases such as dengue fever. Dengue fever is…
Background report
Prioritizing Health: A Human Rights Analysis of Disaster, Vulnerability, and Urbanization in New Orleans and Port-au-Prince
Climate change prompts increased urbanization and vulnerability to natural hazards. Urbanization processes are relevant to a right to health analysis of natural hazards because they can exacerbate pre-disaster inequalities that create vulnerability. The 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince and the 2005…
Briefing
Ebola and Human Rights: Insight from Experts
Ebola demonstrates the critical link between health and human rights, the lack of governance, and the misdirection that befalls the international community in addressing such outbreaks. Human rights experts agree that the Ebola response falls into Lawrence Gostin’s paradigm whereby…
Evidence review
Communication with Rebellious Communities during an Outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Guinea: An Anthropological Approach
This paper by Anoko J. N., reports on the success of a communication programme among 26 rebellious villages in Forest Guinea during fieldwork in June-July 2014.
Evidence review
Stigma and Ebola: An Anthropological Approach to Understanding and Addressing Stigma Operationally in the Ebola Response
‘Stigma’ is an umbrella term for the direct and indirect consequences of a number of processes that brand someone as different in ways that result in discrimination, loss of status and social exclusion. It can be short-term or evolve into…
Evidence review
Community-Centered Responses to Ebola in Urban Liberia: The View from Below
This working paper reports on a study to identify epidemic control priorities among 15 communities in Monrovia and Montserrado County, Liberia. Data were collected in September 2014 on the following topics: prevention, surveillance, care-giving, community-based treatment and support, networking/hotlines/calling response…
Evidence review
The Opposite of Denial: Social Learning at the Onset of the Ebola Emergency in Liberia
This working paper reports on a study to identify the pace of Ebola-related social learning in urban and peri-urban areas around Monrovia, Liberia during August 2014, at the onset of the emergency phase of the epidemic. The research demonstrates how…
Policy document
Setting, measuring and monitoring targets for disaster risk reduction
In many regions, disaster risk is continuing to increase, mostly because greater numbers of vulnerable people and assets are located in exposed areas. It is vital to start reversing these trends. Over the next 18 months, there will be negotiation…
Background report
Early Response to the Emergence of Influenza A(H7N9) Virus in Humans in China: The Central Role of Prompt Information Sharing and Public Communication
In 2003, China’s handling of the early stages of the epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was heavily criticized and generally considered to be suboptimal. Following the SARS outbreak, China made huge investments to improve surveillance, emergency preparedness and…
Briefing
Working with Communities in Gueckedou for Better Understanding of Ebola
International partners are supporting Gueckedou health authorities to implement response actions. Médecins Sans Frontières has established a treatment centre and ensures the transport of suspected cases.
Briefing
Ebola in a Stew of Fear
Modern medicine owes a debt to West Africans for past sacrifices made in the advancement of global health. The announcement by President Barack Obama of a U.S. commitment to build 17 Ebola treatment centers in Liberia, train medical workers, provide testing kits, and offer logistic support is a welcome…
Briefing
Is the Health System Response Out of Sync with the Demands of the Islanders in the Indian Sundarbans?
Five years ago, a mid-summer nightmare named Aila crashed on the Sundarbans with murderous fury and wreaked destruction beyond repair. On May 25, 2009 the tropical cyclone hit the Sundarbans in India and Bangladesh with a wind speed of 110…
Briefing
Sexual Health Gets Little Attention in a Crisis, with Devastating Results
About 125 million people are affected by crises. A quarter of those people are female and of reproductive age – and women are 14 times more likely than men to die in a crisis.
Background report
Human Health Impacts in a Changing South African Climate
Climate change is projected to lead to warmer temperatures, especially in southern Africa, where the warming is predicted to be 2°C higher than the global increase. Given the high burden of disease already associated with environmental factors in this region,…
Background report
Recent Outbreaks of Rift Valley Fever in East Africa and the Middle East
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is an important neglected, emerging, mosquito-borne disease with severe negative impact on human and animal health. Mosquitoes in the Aedes genus have been considered as the reservoir, as well as vectors, since their transovarially infected eggs…
Background report
Perceived Risk Factors and Risk Pathways of Rift Valley Fever in Cattle in Ijara District, Kenya
Ijara district in Kenya was one of the hotspots of Rift Valley fever (RVF) during the 2006/2007 outbreak, which led to human and animal deaths causing major economic losses. The main constraint for the control and prevention of RVF is…
Background report
Refugee Health and Wellbeing: Differences between Urban and Camp-Based Environments in Sub-Saharan Africa
Refugees are increasingly migrating to urban areas, but little research has been conducted to compare health and wellbeing outcomes of urban refugees with those based in camps. This analytic cross-sectional study investigated differences in health-related quality of life (QoL) for…
Briefing
Understanding the Economic Effects of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa
Since March 2014, over 3,000 people have died from the relentless spread of the Ebola virus throughout the West African countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria. Despite the heroic efforts of the humanitarian and medical professionals in these countries, crumbling public health…
Briefing
Ten Things that Anthropologists Can Do to Fight the West African Ebola Epidemic
In this article, I share a 10-point list of actions that anthropologists could take, right now, to improve the global response to the West African Ebola outbreak. Take notice, global health and national and international biosecurity communities. There exists an…
Evidence review
Notes from Case Zero: Anthropology in the time of Ebola
The lead for a story on the Ebola outbreak is, by now, familiar: on the 22nd of March, the Guinean Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of Ebola, the first ever in the region. The virus has since spread through…
Briefing
Caring as Existential Insecurity: Quarantine, Care, and Human Insecurity in the Ebola Crisis
In August of this year, when the Ebola outbreak escalated in Liberia and a state of emergency had been declared for the country, Fatu Kekula, a young Liberian nursing student, improvised personal protective equipment (PPE) to care for her father,…
Briefing
Ebola 2014: Chronicle of a Well-Prepared Disaster
The current crisis is not a nightmare unfolding in front of our eyes, as in a “disaster movie.” It is not an anomaly or an accident which has afflicted public health services unexpectedly. It is also not, to use development…
Evidence review
The Economics of Malaria in Africa
Malaria still claims a heavy human and economic toll, specifically in sub-Saharan Africa. Even though the causality between malaria and poverty is presumably bi-directional, malaria plays a role in the economic difficulties of the region. This article provides an analysis…
Evidence review
Changes in Climatic Factors and Malaria in Uganda
The study examines the relationship between climatic factors and reported malaria cases using data from 12 districts in Uganda over the period 2000-2011. A panel dataset comprising temperature, temperature standard deviation; minimum humidity; maximum humidity; precipitation; precipitation standard deviation; malaria…
Briefing
The Microeconomic Impact of Interventions Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
While the majority of interventions against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria had positive short-term effects, these were frequently not translated into long-term sustainable results.Cash transfers may have the potential of reducing HIV transmissions but the effect is so far insignificant.Increased access…
Evidence review
Health Shocks and Coping Strategies. State Health Insurance Scheme of Andhra Pradesh, India
The objectives of the study are three-fold: to investigate who are vulnerable to welfare loss from health shocks, what are the household responses to cope with the economic burden of health shocks and if policy responses like state health insurance…
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.
Background report
Ebola and Beyond: Equality, Sustainability, Security – Interlaced Challenges in a Global Development Era
The 2014 Ebola crisis in West Africa is a global emergency and a set of personal tragedies. But beyond the urgent headlines and struggles to control the epidemic, what deeper stories should be told? This paper, originally presented as a…
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
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…
