Gaza is not a humanitarian crisis: on self-defence, depoliticising language, and contextualisation
A ‘Public Anthropologist’ blog by Heidi Mogstad, a researcher for the ‘War and Fun: Reconceptualizing Warfare and Its Experience’ research project.
communication
Do You Speak COVID-19?
Millions of marginalised people lack basic information about how to keep themselves and their communities safe and well.
Risk Communication and Community Engagement Preparedness and Readiness Framework: Ebola Response in the Democratic Republic of Congo in North Kivu
Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) is an essential part of any disease outbreak response. Risk communication in the context of an Ebola outbreak refers to real time exchange of information, opinion and advice between frontline responders and people who are faced with the threat of Ebola to their survival, health, economic or social wellbeing. Community engagement refers to mutual partnership between Ebola response teams and individuals or communities in affected areas, whereby community stakeholders have ownership in controlling the spread of the outbreak.
This document was developed jointly by the Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) incident management team for the Ebola Virus Disease outbreak response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September 2018 by World Health Organization, UNICEF and International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, with inputs from GOARN Research (Social Science), US Centres for Disease Control,
Video: Encouraging Safe and Dignified Burial of People who have Died from Ebola
Social Anthropologist Julienne Anoko visits communities to encourage safe and dignified burial. Infection of the Ebola virus can occur from touching the bodies of those who have died from Ebola virus disease (EVD).
Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Considerations: Ebola Response in DR Congo
This document was developed by the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme as a resource for the response to the outbreak in DR Congo in May 2018. It is intended to be used to guide risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) work which is central to stopping the outbreak and preventing its further amplification.
Contextual Factors Shaping Cholera Transmission and Treatment-Seeking in Somalia and the Somali Region of Ethiopia
The drought in the Horn of Africa and the protracted conflict has created a humanitarian emergency that has led to a declaration of famine in several regions of Somalia and the Somali region of Ethiopia. As a result of depleted water resources, widespread internal displacement, malnutrition, and inadequate water and sanitation facilities, cholera outbreaks have occurred.
Managing Rumours and Misinformation in West Africa
Rumours about Ebola generated social challenges that were real but surmountable, finds Amzath Fassasi.
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 fighting this epidemic and grappling with social, cultural and political factors.
The need for social science and effective communications when responding to outbreaks is clearer than ever, as is the need to look critically for lessons that can guide future efforts. The resources below summarise the various institutions helping to fight the epidemic and highlight communication efforts.
Group dialogue and critical reflection of HIV prevention: an evaluation of the C-Change Community Conversation Toolkit
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Communication for Change (C-Change) set out to develop support tools that would foster interactive communication among low-literacy adults and prompt engagement on HIV prevention issues, including encouraging individual and group-oriented problem solving. The Community Conversation Toolkit (CCT) was developed using participatory approaches with lower literacy audiences and was extensively pre-tested in southern and eastern Africa. The CCT is a social and behavior change communication (SBCC) resource that comprises a set of interactive communication components including role play cards, throw cubes, playing cards, dialogue buttons, finger puppets, and guides for facilitation and community mobilization. The CCT has been adapted for use in seven countries and is available in ten languages.This evaluation report looked at whether this toolkit elicited changes in behaviour and practices by participants around HIV prevention, and whether the processes of reflection and problem solving led to community-level action for HIV-prevention-related change.
Coming of Age: Communication’s Role in Powering Global Health
Communication has been a consistent current running through many major health developments of recent years. And yet, despite the demonstrated promise of communication as a tool for improving public health, not enough has been done to date to capitalise upon its potential, particularly in the poorest parts of the world. Through a careful review of the evidence, this briefing offers a spirited case for why donors, practitioners and developing country governments need to pay more attention to the role of communication in tackling global health.The briefing finds that: Communication has been central to public health developments from Ebola to polio and from HIV to child survival.
While health policy officials recognise the importance of health communication, it often remains poorly funded, under-utilised and badly planned in public health programmes. Even when it does prioritise communication, public health programming often fails to reflect best practice around the role of social and behaviour change communications (SBCC).Progress has been stymied by the complexity of social and behaviour change communication,
Still Left in the Dark? How People in Emergencies Use Communication to Survive – and How Humanitarian Agencies Can Help
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In 2008, a BBC World Service Trust policy briefing argued that people affected by earthquakes, floods or other emergencies often lacked the information they needed to survive and that this only added to their stress and anxiety. Left in the Dark: the unmet need for information in humanitarian emergencies maintained that humanitarian agencies were increasingly effective and coordinated in getting food, water, shelter and medical help to people affected by disasters, but were neglecting the need to get often life-saving information to them.
Unquestionably, the biggest single change in the communications sector since the 2008 Left in the Dark paper has been the explosion in access to communications technology among communities affected by disaster. As a result, this is the focus of this paper.
Using Media and Communication to Respond to Public Health Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Ebola
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Failings during the early months of the Ebola outbreak caused the epidemic to become an unprecedented health crisis in West Africa. This cannot be repeated.
Ebola, 1995/2014
Nicholas B. King looks back at the dialectics of confidence and paranoia in the Ebola outbreaks of 1995 and 2014.
Historical Parallels, Ebola Virus Disease and Cholera: Understanding Community Distrust and Social Violence with Epidemics
In the three West African countries most affected by the recent Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak,resistance to public health measures contributed to the startling speed and persistence of this epidemic in the region. But how do we explain this resistance, and how have people in these communities understood their actions? By comparing these recent events to historical precedents during Cholera outbreaks in Europe in the 19th century we show that these events have not been new to history or unique to Africa.
Community resistance must be analysed in context and go beyond simple singlevariable determinants. Knowledge and respect of the cultures and beliefs of the afflicted is essential for dealing with threatening disease outbreaks and their potential social violence.
The Case of Cholera Preparedness, Response and Prevention in the SADC Region: A Need for Proactive and Multi-Level Communication and Co-ordination
In this paper the authors seek to identify the most appropriate model for a regional co-ordination mechanism for cholera preparedness, response and prevention. The qualitative mixed-method data collection approach that was followed revealed the need for alternative solutions, including a socio-political understanding of cholera responses at different levels of scale and at different stages of an outbreak.
Important areas that need to be understood include the multiplicity of actors and the complexity of their interaction, the importance of building local capacity, the need for varying responses at different levels of scale, the need for improved inter- and intra-country co-ordination and information exchange, the importance of cultural belief systems and the impact of the media on the response to cholera outbreaks.
Communication and social mobilization in yellow fever mass vaccination campaigns: 10 points from field experience
The main objective of this document is to provide evidence-based guidance on conducting practical social mobilization and communication for a yellow fever vaccination campaign, either preventive or reactive.
Information is also given on the monitoring and evaluation of communication and social mobilization techniques. These 10 points from field experience will be especially useful for district-level planning.
Ebola: Limitations of Correcting Misinformation
This comment piece identifies problematic assumptions behind communication and social mobilisation strategies which rely on using biomedicine to correct local logics and concerns and which cast them as misinformation.
The effectiveness of using standardised advice for non-standardised situations is questioned.
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.
Quick and Easy Guide: Assessing Information & Communications Needs Booklet
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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 operational response including their goals, intended programmes and fundraising plans.
