This paper reviews the effects of vertical responses to COVID-19 on health systems, services, and people’s access to and use of them in LMICs, where historic and ongoing under-investments heighten vulnerability to a multiplicity of health threats. We use the term ‘vertical response’ to describe decisions, measures and actions taken solely with the purpose of […]
Local health care
Within a health system, the different sources of care and advice people visit and trust when they are sick and the policies which influence them.
32 documents
COVID-19 Considerations for Home and Community-Based Care
This review presents considerations for care and infection prevention and control (IPC) for COVID-19 in home and community-based care settings. Overarching considerations Many guidelines from LMICS recognise the necessity to support home and community-based care for COVID-19 (as deemed clinically appropriate, usually recommended only for ‘mild’ disease) for reasons such as to protect capacity in […]
Key Considerations: COVID-19 in Informal Urban Settlements (March 2020)
This brief sets out key considerations for protecting informal urban settlements from the spread and impacts of COVID-19. There is heightened concern about these settings because of the combination of population density and limited infrastructure. This briefing discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local action. It can be viewed in conjunction […]
Health-Seeking Behaviours in Sofala and Manica in Relation to Cyclone Idai Response
Rapid review question: What are the health-seeking and nutritional practices of the affected populations? How do they frame, understand and engage in prevention of cholera/AWD, malaria, measles/rubella (or vaccine preventable diseases); infant and child feeding and other relevant diseases? What do these entail in terms of behaviour change communication and community engagement? This review is […]
Cross-Border Dynamics and Healthcare in West Nile, Uganda
Against the backdrop of on-going preparedness work in Uganda as related to the outbreak of Ebola in DRC, this brief summarises key considerations concerning cross-border dynamics and health structures and behaviours in the West Nile sub-region of north-west Uganda. It builds upon the SSHAP brief ‘Uganda-DRC: cross-border dynamics’ (published December 2018). Following the case inAriwara, […]
Institutional Trust and Misinformation in the Response to the 2018–19 Ebola Outbreak in North Kivu, DR Congo: A Population-Based Survey
The current outbreak of Ebola in eastern DR Congo, beginning in 2018, emerged in a complex and violent political and security environment. Community-level prevention and outbreak control measures appear to be dependent on public trust in relevant authorities and information, but little scholarship has explored these issues. The authors aimed to investigate the role of […]
Technologies of Trust in Epidemic Response: Openness, Reflexivity and Accountability During the 2014–2016 Ebola Outbreak in West Africa
Trust is an essential component of successful cooperative endeavours. The global health response to the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak confronted historically tenuous regional relationships of trust. Challenging sociopolitical contexts and initially inappropriate communication strategies impeded trustworthy relationships between communities and responders during the epidemic. Social scientists affiliated with the Ebola 100-Institut Pasteur project interviewed […]
Social Science in Epidemics: Influenza and SARS Lessons Learned
This report is the third instalment of the ‘Social Science in Epidemics’ series, commissioned by the USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Direct Assistance (OFDA). In this series, past outbreaks are reviewed in order to identify social science ‘entry points’ for emergency interventions and preparedness activities. The aim is to determine tangible ways to address the […]
Ebola Preparedness and Traditional Healers in South Sudan
This review focuses on the evidence on Ebola preparedness in South Sudan through an anthropological lens, looking at informal and traditional health care systems. It presents the evidence on how these can be utilised for surveillance, behaviour change communication, and vaccinations in the case of an Ebola outbreak, including: establishing surveillance of these services and […]
Key Considerations: Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, North Kivu, DRC
Key considerations: mental health and psychosocial support, North Kivu, DRC This brief summarises key mental health and psychosocial support considerations in relation to the response to the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in North Kivu, DRC in August 2018. The brief was last updated on 3 October 2018. The brief is based on a rapid […]
