This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about […]
This article first appeared on the IDS website on the 15 April 2020. By Annie Wilkinson Even though I knew what could happen, it was still a shock. I’d spent time in Sierra Leone during the Ebola epidemic and had seen how a disease can ravage a society. I was prepared for fixations on the daily case […]
Guidance on safeguarding to anticipate, mitigate and address potential and harms in the funding, design, delivery and dissemination of research.
This article first appeared on the Health Systems Global blog on 24 April 2020 In collaboration with HSG’s Thematic Working Group on Health Systems in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (TWG-FCAS), Haja Wurie (COMAHS/ARISE, Sierra Leone) and Julia Lohmann (LSHTM, UK) reflect on the impact of the current COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of health […]
Sabina Faiz Rashid, The Daily Star, April 17 2020 Reading different narratives, survey results, and media reports and articles on the coronavirus pandemic, one is overcome with a range of emotions: depression, paralysis, anger, denial, helplessness—emotions that are reflective of being privileged, of having the luxury to dwell on them. For the vast number of […]
By Wafa Alam for Kalerkantho Online, 7 April 2020 ‘Our job is to bring awareness to the community. Who will do it if not us?’ said a community health worker working in informal settlements in Dhaka amid the global COVID-19 pandemic. The global pandemic known as COVID-19 is an unprecedented crisis and brings with it […]
Introduction Dr Tom Wingfield is Senior Clinical Lecturer and Honorary Consultant Physician at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. He is part of the COVID-19 response in Liverpool and the UK. He has previously worked in informal settlements in Peru, Nepal and Mozambique. Here are short answers to questions put to him from Slum/Shack Dwellers […]
Most of the information about COVID-19 and who is at risk is based on data from these middle and high income contexts. Many of the recommendations (to wash hands, self-isolate and physically distance) assume basic living conditions and access to essential services (e.g. water, space etc). 1 billion people live in informal settlements – between […]
Policy makers should consider gender at all levels of the health system, and in all activities. This would lead to a more equitable health system that serves everyone, and meets health goals. Many policy makers are interested in gender equity, but lack guidance on how to implement changes in the health system. We teamed up […]
Part of the ARISE work in India is steered through the George Institute for Global Health, India. It is focused on ‘waste pickers and waste picking communities’ which represent urban informality at its most marginal. The work aims to understand and describe how accountability arrangements can be strengthened for people living and working in informal […]
