South Sudanese people have extensive knowledge of infectious diseases and experience of organizing responses to epidemics during wars and other crises. There are multiple, locally-specific methods used by communities for interrupting infection transmission and managing epidemics. This report documents these community infectious disease management strategies, based on sustained investigative research in the Yei, Juba, Wau, Malakal, Aweil West and Rubkona areas in 2020. The research encourages collaborative engagement with local knowledge and community healthcare leadership….

Introduction: the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. South Sudan, a low-income and humanitarian response setting, reported its first case of COVID-19 on April 5, 2020. We describe the socio-demographic and epidemiologic characteristics of COVID-19 cases in this setting. Methods: we conducted a cross-sectional descriptive analysis of data for 1,330 confirmed COVID-19 cases from the first 60 days of the outbreak. Results: among the 1,330 confirmed cases, the mean…

Recent global health emergencies have highlighted the critical role of health care workers in stemming the spread of pandemics. Healthcare workers provide an essential service to local communities impacted by epidemics such as Ebola. Global health scholars suggest that carers may suffer harm while performing this essential work. Building on feminist theories of ‘harm’ and ‘social reproduction’, this article uses as case studies the early 21st century Ebola epidemics that broke out in West Africa…

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has shattered the everyday lives of young people, limiting peer interactions and disrupting privacy, with potential for long-term detrimental impacts. This study uses rapid virtual quantitative and qualitative surveys undertaken from April to July 2020 with over 4,800 adolescents affected by displacement in Bangladesh and Jordan to explore adolescent girls’ experiences of social isolation and lack of privacy. Our mixed-methods findings suggest that the pandemic and policy response has…

The recently signed Revitalized peace Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS) on 12 September 2018 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by the warring parties in South Sudan, has been widely extolled and commended as a significant development signaling the dawn of peace. The R-ARCSS provides broad comprehensive framework for key reform processes to usher the country towards stable democracy. As the world suffers from the second wave of…

The aim of this research brief is to provide evidence that improves understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on violence against women and girls, by focusing on crime reported to authorities and incidents reported to helplines. The analysis covers data on violence against women and girls collected by UNODC during 2020 on victims of homicide by intimate partners, on victims of “femicide”, on sexual assault and rape reported to the authorities, and on calls made…

Humanitarian organizations have developed innovative and context specific interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as guidance has been normative in nature and most are not humanitarian specific. In April 2020, three universities developed a COVID-19 humanitarian-specific website (www.covid19humanitarian.com) to allow humanitarians from the field to upload their experiences or be interviewed by academics to share their creative responses adapted to their specific country challenges in a standardised manner. These field experiences are reviewed by…

Epidemic forecasting is one tool through which we can gain an understanding of the final outbreak sizeand indicators of when the COVID-19 epidemic peaks in a country. This provides decision-makers with the capability to plan, surge, and manage resources during a pandemic. UN OCHA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory have therefore established a partnership to inform COVID-19 strategies for humanitarian interventions by both national authorities and the humanitarian community in selected high-priority…

To understand communities’ knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP), along with their information needs on COVID-19, this KAP assessment was conducted by the Turkish Red Crescent Society (TRCS), with support from IFRC, under the Community Based Migration Programme (CBMP) from 20 July to 12 August 2020. The assessment has been conducted via TRCS’ social media platforms, phone interviews and online consultations/focus group discussions (FGDs) with refugees and local people in 16 TRCS Community Centre locations. Comprising…

Strengthening health systems and maintaining essential service delivery during health emergencies response is critical for early detection and diagnosis, prompt treatment, and effective control of pandemics, including the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Health information systems (HIS) developed during recent Ebola outbreaks in West Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) provided opportunities to collect, analyze, and distribute data to inform both day-to-day and long-term policy decisions on outbreak preparedness. As COVID-19 continues to…