Religion and COVID-19: Four Lessons from the Ebola experience

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Ebola and COVID-19, two devastating infectious diseases that spread rapidly through populations, crossing boundaries of all sorts, put local, national, and international health systems to crucial tests. They also try religious communities, locally and globally. The authors of this guest post, Katherine Marshall, Olivia Wilkinson and Dave Robinson, argue that we are learning vital lessons from both experiences. First, religion and science must combine their strengths. For this, religious voices must be at the medical…

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Coronavirus in conflict: The fight has hardly begun

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In this article, the authors argue that for several reasons, conflict-affected environments are especially vulnerable to the outbreak of infectious diseases, are less likely to be able to identify and respond to outbreaks, and are less equipped to stop their spread within and beyond their often porous borders.   Read more

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Faced with COVID-19, the Humanitarian System Should Rethink its Business Model

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A robust humanitarian response to COVID-19 is in everybody’s interest. The pandemic is set to wreak havoc in low and middle-income countries with fragile health systems, where vulnerable populations lack the means to implement the most basic protective measures such as handwashing and social distancing. These are places where the disruption could increase the risk of other outbreaks, and reduce the ability to deal with  other threats. COVID-19’s other impacts, such as loss of livelihoods…

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How is COVID playing out in Fragile and Conflict Affected Settings?

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This blog post addreses a few discussion on the impact of COVID-19 in fragile and conflict-affected settings, based on a discussion with researchers of the Action for Empowerment and Accountability research programme. Read more

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Responding to COVID-19: The Need for Conflict Sensitivity

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There has been a wave of insightful commentary over the last month on the potential for the COVID-19 pandemic to upend fragile peace process (e.g., Afghanistan) or to exacerbate risks for conflict. As the world deals with COVID-19, at CIC we are also interested in thinking through the potential risks created by how governments and communities respond to the virus—and how a conflict prevention lens can be applied in a practical way to response efforts….

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Out of the Ruins and Rubble: Covid-19 and the fightback in Africa

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In an update on the Covid-19 pandemic across Africa, Heike Becker, Femi Aborisade and Issa Shivji, report on the reaction of governments in South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania, the struggles of poor communities and the urgency of building of a new world out of the ruins of the old.   Read more

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Assessing key considerations for burial practices, death and mourning in epidemics

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This Practical Approaches brief highlights key considerations for rapidly appraising burial/funerary practices and beliefs around death/dying during an epidemic. It provides guidance on the relevant social science knowledge required to adapt epidemic preparedness and response to the local context. By using this tool, an overview of local knowledge, meaning and practice will be gained, which can help inform programming related to death and burial.   Download

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Identifying & Mitigating Gender-based Violence Risks within the COVID-19 Response

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The COVID-19 pandemic continues to present an array of challenges, forcing nearly all types of basic service delivery – including, but not limited to, humanitarian response – to drastically adapt. Given how quickly the outbreak continues to evolve; the variation across contexts in the impact of the disease and the measures being implemented to control its spread; and the lack of documented good practice for delivering aid and services under such conditions, to a large…

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Tackling COVID-19 in Uganda: private medicine outlets at the front-line

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At the time of writing (31st March), Uganda has 44 reported cases of COVID-19, and approximately 1,800 people are under quarantine. Uganda has been very effective so far in its response to outbreaks and President Museveni is spearheading efforts to control the pandemic. Social distancing measures are being enacted such as closures of schools and religious buildings, public gatherings, the suspension of public transport and closures of shops and malls. The relative youthfulness of the…

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COVID-19 and the toxic politics of exploitation

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We are all under siege. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolds, Louisa Waugh from Saferworld agrues that urgent action is needed to challenge the governments who are exploiting it for their own ends, and to address the dangers confronting the world’s most vulnerable people.   Read more

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