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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“Vulnerable people are hit much harder, which is also what we’re seeing during the current coronavirus crisis”

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According to Thea Hilhorst, Professor of Humanitarian Studies at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, disasters don’t just happen completely out of the blue, and they are never equally distributed, either. Disasters only turn into disasters in places where people are vulnerable to their impact. And vulnerable people are hit much harder, which is also what we’re seeing happen during the current coronavirus crisis.   Read more

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Increasing Segregation? Impact of Covid19 in the Cities of Africa and South Asia

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The current Covid 19 pandemic is likely to spread in the next few weeks and months to the South and in particular South Asia and Sub Saharan Africa. The impact may well be of a greater scale than that currently experienced in the North; India was the region with the highest loss of live in the 1918-1919 Spanish flu Pandemic. The experience and historical experience suggests that urban areas will be disproportionately affected.   Read…

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South Sudan: Trends in Communication Preferences and Modalities

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To inform COVID-19 risk communication outreach strategies, REACH put together this brief to summarize key findings on trends in communication preferences and modalities from past REACH assessments.   Download

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Anticipating the impacts of COVID-19 in humanitarian and food crisis contexts

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Although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on short- and long-term food security is difficult to predict, particularly at this early juncture, some risk factors can be identified. Lessons from previous pandemics or global crises indicate that food security could be rapidly and dramatically affected, particularly in fragile countries and, within them, the most vulnerable populations have a lot to lose. While the COVID-19 pandemic is devastating lives, public health systems, livelihoods and economies all…

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Covid-19: ‘we won’t get back to normal because normal was the problem’

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Discussions about the world that will emerge from the coronavirus pandemic have already started apace. Many commentators are wondering whether the crisis offers the opportunity to set the world on a more sustainable and equal path. The Covid-19 recovery offers an opportunity to create a different type of ‘normal’ – one that can help restore trust in the state and reaffirm crucial economic and social rights.   Read more

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Podcast: The Social Dynamics of Pandemics

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The global pandemic Covid-19 is impacting people in many and varied ways. The effects on all our lives are immense and diverse, from rural and urban communities, young and old, from different geographic and economic groups, we are each living with different realities of a global crisis. In this month’s episode of Between the Lines, IDS’ Melissa Leach, Hayley MacGregor, Annie Wilkinson and Ian Scoones discuss how we should learn from past epidemics and outbreaks…

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COVID-19 and Social Networks in Humanitarian Crises

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The novel coronavirus is now being transmitted through the six continents. A key concern is for those who are already extremely vulnerable – those who are caught in ongoing humanitarian emergencies, such as those in Syria, South Sudan and the Rohingya refugee crisis. For people caught in these emergencies, a public health response will be a challenge, but there is another factor that has been largely overlooked: the role of people’s social networks – and…

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COVID-19 Secondary Impact Analysis

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Acute conflicts and humanitarian crises are often the result of the complex interactions of many factors. The majority of these factors will be altered, and likely amplified, by the spread of COVID-19. Mercy Corps has an internal analytical capacity used to support their access and programming in complex and high risk environments. For the foreseeable future this capacity will support their COVID-19 response. This product will provide field-driven analysis to identify emerging trends relevant to…

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Guidance for the prevention of COVID-19 infections among high-risk individuals in camps and camp-like settings

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Forcibly displaced populations residing in camps or camp-like settings may be particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 epidemics due to overcrowding, poor access to safe water and sanitation and limited access to health services. In the absence of control measures, camps and camp-like settings could experience very high attack rates and mortality. This would translate into an extremely large number of patients requiring intensive care over a short period of time (a few months), as suggested by…

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