Beyond several interests and speculations on the relationship between formal and informal actors and their networks in support of vulnerable populations, most studies do not conclusively establish whether the two types of support are substitutes or complements. While informal care and formal care may be substitutes in general, they are complements among the vulnerable groups. […]
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a significant burden on psychosocial health and wellbeing of childcare providers. The need to support childcare managers has been recognized. However, there is to date little research specifically on how best to support the mental health needs of childcare providers, and no studies on their own experiences and views about what might be […]
Waste pickers in India are extremely vulnerable to a range of health problems due to their poor living and unsafe working conditions, and struggle to access the health services they are entitled to. This research uses a community-based participatory research and focuses specifically on mosquito-borne diseases in two districts of Andhra Pradesh, exploring how they […]
For the large population living in Nairobi’s informal settlements, the long-term effects of COVID-19 pose a threat to livelihood, health, and wellbeing. For those working in the informal sector, who are the lifeblood of the city, livelihoods have been severely supressed by COVID-19 restrictions such as curfews, pushing many into further poverty. This article draws […]
Freetown has over 1 million residents, many of whom live in about 68 crowded informal settlements. Residents of these settlements struggle daily to access basic services such as water, sanitation, and health-care services. We found that the government’s COVID-19 response measures (curfews, lockdowns, and travel restrictions) excluded informal residents from contributing to its design, and […]
One in three urban dwellers now live in precarious, marginalised areas, including informal spaces; this is an estimated 881 million people in low- and middle-income countries. People living and working in informal urban spaces face interconnected challenges, including multiple intersecting health risks and vulnerabilities, and complex, fluid governance arrangements, involving a mix of actors, with […]
Much of the current discussion on safeguarding comes from the perspective of the humanitarian sector, and direct service provision and implementation. Additionally, researchers working in global health also experience safeguarding challenges, and research funders and donors require assurance that safeguarding processes and policies are developed and implemented to protect participants and researchers, yet governance in […]
One of our core strategies to affect change is to support capacity strengthening of urban marginalised co-researchers to generate, collect, and use evidence as new localised knowledge to instigate change. Strengthening capabilities of urban marginalised people to engage with research processes is central to the principles of CBPR and meaningful participation of marginalised communities. ARISE […]
This paper applies an intersectional lens to health in informal urban settlements in Freetown, Sierra Leone. We explored how intersecting social characteristics including gender, age, wealth, occupation, and tenant status influence health and well-being outcomes. We found that hazardous environmental conditions, poor waste disposal, and waste burning contribute to health problems at a neighbourhood level. […]
COVID-19 has forced a reckoning about how we live, and in particular how exposure to disease risks are unevenly distributed. This contribution explores connections between the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic disease and conditions of chronic crisis among the urban poor. We suggest two issues in urgent need of attention in the long and short term are: […]
