On Wednesday 16 November 2022 between 12:00-15:00 GMT, The Wellcome Trust collaborative Pandemics Preparedness Project is hosting Shifting Power in Pandemics, a public webinar on connecting and supporting preparedness ‘from below’. Shifting Power in Pandemics, will explore issues surrounding connecting and supporting preparedness from below and feature expert speakers from Africa, the Americas and Europe, including investigators from SSHAP.
This study contributes to what is currently known about the experiences of girls in fighting forces as distinct from those of boys. It is meant to assist policymakers in developing policies and programs to help protect and empower girls in situations of armed conflict and postwar reconstruction. Within the context of Northern Uganda, Sierra Leone and Mozambique girls in the fighting forces have suffered major human rights violations, especially gender-based violence. The rights of these girls are under threat from their own governments, armed opposition forces, and, occasionally, by members of their communities and families. At times, girls are discriminated against by local groups and officials, governments and international bodies that are unwilling to recognise their presence, needs and rights during conflict, post-conflict, demobilisation and social reintegration.
Yet, within the fighting forces, girls carry out a number of diverse roles, including as fighters.
Ebola seems to be a particular risk in conflict affected contexts. All three of the countries most affected by the 2014-15 outbreak have a complex conflict-affected recent history. Other major outbreaks in the recent past, inNorthern Uganda and in the Democratic Republic of Congo are similarly afflicted although outbreaks have also occurred in stable settings. Although the 2014-15 outbreak in West Africa has received more attention than almost any other public health issue in recent months, very little of that attention has focused on the complex interaction between conflict and its aftermath and its implications for health systems, the emergence of the disease and the success or failure in controlling it.The health systems of conflict-affected states are characterized by a series of weaknesses, some common to other low and even middle income countries, others specifically conflict-related.
Added to this is the burden placed on health systems by the aggravated health problems associated with conflict.
Foreign leaders discussing solutions to the Ebola epidemic must acknowledge the contribution made by local workers to reduce infection rates.
Health workers face suspicion and a lack of cold storage as they test the Ebola vaccine and also try to reach children who have missed inoculations against other diseases.
The Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium is an ESPA1-funded research programme designed to deliver much-needed, cutting-edge science on the relationships between ecosystems, zoonoses, health and wellbeing with the objective of moving people out of poverty and promoting social justice.
This document offers a research update on theConsortium case study exploring the drivers of Lassa fever in Sierra Leone.
WHO’s social mobilization team is using radio to reach communities with information about how to prevent the spread of Ebola in Sierra Leone.
In Sierra Leone’s Magazine Wharf, there are mixed perceptions around Ebola response systems. Ambulance services are met with especial scepticism.
Many fear that a trip in the ambulance will end in death in an Ebola treatment centre or holding unit. Others are worried that the ambulance has not been properly disinfected.
When the Tonkolili District reported a new case of Ebola on 24 July 2015, it marked a change in the Sierra Leone Ebola response.
A rapid response team was despatched to manage this new source of infection, the first case in that area for more than 150 days. It resulted in a whole village being quarantined, and showed how quickly Ebola can travel and that no district can let down its guard until there are zero cases of Ebola.
The present document is the eighth and final report in a series presenting descriptive results of a survey of responses to Ebola and Ebola control in 26 villages in all three provinces of rural Sierra Leone, fieldwork for which was undertaken in December 2014. The report covers three villages in Gbo chiefdom, in Bo District.
Some emphasis is placed on how inconsistencies of Ebola response are perceived at local level, and undermine trust. Ebola responders should not only improve the quality of their messages, but also concentrate on explaining aspects of the response that villagers find most puzzling, if trust is to be restored.
Nearly half the population of Sierra Leone is under the age of 18 years and the impact of the Ebola crisis on their lives now and on their future opportunities has been far-reaching: no school; loss of family members and friends to the virus; and changing roles and responsibilities in the home and the community.While the priority now remains meeting the goal of zero cases, the Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) is also developing a comprehensive strategy aimed at supporting communities to recover from this crisis, to put the country back on track to meet development targets.
The Ebola Recovery Strategy – currently being finalised by the GoSL – represents a potentially transformative framework to support the immediate recovery of children from the crisis and to ensure their place in the future development of Sierra Leone.As Sierra Leone emerges from one of the most challenging crises in its history,