Defining, measuring and interpreting the appropriateness of humanitarian assistance

Abdelmagid, Nada; Checchi, Francesco; Garry, Sylvia; Warsame, Abdihamid

doi:10.1186/s41018-019-0062-y

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

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“…We averaged the three after weighting them based on a quality score computed from a published checklist. 33 In 2016-17 and 2019 respectively, the International Organisation for Migration and the United Nations World Food Programme published estimates based on CSO projections but adjusted for crisis-related forced displacement: we applied the ratio of displacement-adjusted and CSO estimates to our weighted average to come up with a high-end denominator, which we used for analysis. Lastly, we smoothed the series to obtain monthly values (Figure S7).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aden governorate, Yemen: a geospatial and statistical analysis

Besson

Norris

Ghouth

et al. 2020

Preprint

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(ENGLISH) Background The burden of COVID-19 in low-income and conflict-affected countries is still unclear, largely reflecting low testing rates. In parts of Yemen, reports indicated a peak in hospital admissions and burials during May-June 2020. To estimate excess mortality during the epidemic period, we quantified activity across all identifiable cemeteries within Aden governorate in Yemen (population approximately one million) by analysing very high-resolution satellite imagery, and compared estimates to Civil Registry office records from the city. Methods After identifying active cemeteries through remote and ground information, we applied geospatial analysis techniques to manually identify new grave plots and measure changes in burial surface area over a period from July 2016 to September 2020. After imputing missing grave counts using surface area data, we used alternative approaches, including simple interpolation and a generalised additive mixed growth model, to predict both actual and counterfactual (no epidemic) burial rates by cemetery and across the governorate during the most likely period of COVID-19 excess mortality (from 1 April 2020), and thereby compute excess burials. We also analysed death notifications to the Civil Registry office during April-July 2020 and in previous years. Results We collected 78 observations from 11 cemeteries, of which 10 required imputation from burial surface area. Cemeteries ranged in starting size from 0 to 6866 graves. In all but one a peak in daily burial rates was evident from April to July 2020. Interpolation and mixed model methods estimated ≈ 1500 excess burials up to 6 July, and 2120 up to 19 September, corresponding to a peak weekly increase of 230% from the counterfactual. Satellite imagery estimates were generally lower than Civil Registry data, which indicated a peak 1823 deaths in May alone. However, both sources suggested the epidemic had waned by September 2020. Discussion To our knowledge this is the first instance of satellite imagery being used for population mortality estimation. Findings suggest a substantial, under-ascertained impact of COVID-19 in this urban Yemeni governorate, and are broadly in line with previous mathematical modelling predictions, though our method cannot distinguish direct from indirect virus deaths. Satellite imagery burial analysis appears a promising novel approach for monitoring epidemics and other crisis impacts, particularly where ground data are difficult to collect.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aden governorate, Yemen: a geospatial and statistical analysis

Besson

Norris

Ghouth

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…Professional) guide(Culligan and Sheriff 2019) is an example of a guide that is aimed at both humanitarian and development audiences.Culligan and Sheriff (2019: 3-7) stress that good practices in the evaluation of humanitarian and development work include, amongst others, accountabilityIn addition to the more general evaluation guides aimed at both humanitarian and development practitioners, a number of publications specific to humanitarian settings have been published. One of the earliest and most often referred to guides in this context is a 1999 OECD guide (Development Assistance Committee 1999), which -in the words ofAbdelmagid et al (2019: 3) -aimed 'to reduce the "methodological anarchy" of evaluations of humanitarian assistance funded by the OECD Member States'. It is perceived to be the 'industry standard' by many in the sector(Sundberg et al 2019) and established a standard set of criteria for evaluation (which includes relevance and appropriateness, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, connectedness, coverage, coherence, and coordination).Questions of relevance and appropriateness of assistance for religious minorities are the area in which one might expect to see questions about religious diversity and the inclusion of religious minorities.…”

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confidence: 99%

Understanding Inclusivity of Religious Diversity in Humanitarian Response

Wilkinson¹,

Eggert²

2021

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This report comes from a review of tools and guidance materials applicable to humanitarian response with regard to their inclusion or exclusion of questions on religious minorities and religious diversity. The authors find that there are a lack of questions tailored for humanitarians to use throughout the programme cycle that will help them analyse when and how to pay specific attention to religious diversity in their response. This report suggests some recommended questions emerging from the reviews of guidance documents and tools.

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“…As noted in the search strategy, many of the initial reports retrieved were duplicative as they were from the same outbreaks but written by different authors. This questions if the numerous reports written from one outbreak are an efficient use of human resources, and that there could potentially be other ways of writing to support capturing lessons from outbreak responses [ 16 , 17 , 60 ]. The lack of a systematic structure reduces the utility of the reports to capture useful accounts of responses.…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying transferable lessons from cholera epidemic responses by Médecins Sans Frontières in Mozambique, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2015–2018: a scoping review

et al. 2022

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Background Cholera epidemics occur frequently in low-income countries affected by concurrent humanitarian crises. Evaluations of these epidemic response remains largely unpublished and there is a need to generate evidence on response efforts to inform future programmes. This review of MSF cholera epidemic responses aimed to describe the main characteristics of the cholera epidemics and related responses in these three countries, to identify challenges to different intervention strategies based on available data; and to make recommendations for epidemic prevention and control practice and policy. Methods Case studies from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Mozambique were purposively selected by MSF for this review due to the documented burden of cholera in each country, frequency of cholera outbreaks, and risk of humanitarian crises. Data were extracted on the characteristics of the epidemics; time between alert and response; and, the delivery of health and water, sanitation and hygiene interventions. A Theory of Change for cholera response programmes was built to assess factors that affected implementation of the responses. Results and conclusions 20 epidemic response reports were identified, 15 in DRC, one in Malawi and four in Mozambique. All contexts experienced concurrent humanitarian crises, either armed conflict or natural disasters. Across the settings, median time between the date of alert and date of the start of the response by MSF was 23 days (IQR 14–41). Almost all responses targeted interventions community-wide, and all responses implemented in-patient treatment of suspected cholera cases in either established health care facilities (HCFs) or temporary cholera treatment units (CTUs). In three responses, interventions were delivered as case-area targeted interventions (CATI) and four responses targeted households of admitted suspected cholera cases. CATI or delivery of interventions to households of admitted suspected cases occurred from 2017 onwards only. Overall, 74 factors affecting implementation were identified including delayed supplies of materials, insufficient quantities of materials and limited or lack of coordination with local government or other agencies. Based on this review, the following recommendations are made to improve cholera prevention and control efforts: explore improved models for epidemic preparedness, including rapid mobilisation of supplies and deployment of trained staff; invest in and strengthen partnerships with national and local government and other agencies; and to standardise reporting templates that allow for rigorous and structured evaluations within and across countries to provide consistent and accessible data.

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Defining, measuring and interpreting the appropriateness of humanitarian assistance

Cited by 11 publications

References 1 publication

Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aden governorate, Yemen: a geospatial and statistical analysis

Excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in Aden governorate, Yemen: a geospatial and statistical analysis

Understanding Inclusivity of Religious Diversity in Humanitarian Response

Identifying transferable lessons from cholera epidemic responses by Médecins Sans Frontières in Mozambique, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, 2015–2018: a scoping review

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