Use of COVID-19 evidence in humanitarian settings : the need for dynamic guidance adapted to changing humanitarian crisis contexts

Article Article scientifique Article Use of COVID-19 evidence in humanitarian settings : the need for dynamic guidance adapted to changing humanitarian crisis contexts eng 2021-11-19 2021-11-19 author Odlum Alex 0000-0002-9281-9835 Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Boulevard du Pont-d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. alex.odlum@graduateinstitute.ch. 954322 author James Rosemary 0000-0002-1443-880X Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Boulevard du Pont-d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. 406263 Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies (MCERA) author Mahieu Audrey Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Boulevard du Pont-d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. 526602 author Blanchet Karl 0000-0003-0498-8020 Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, Boulevard du Pont-d'Arve 28, 1205, Geneva, Switzerland. 932568 Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies (MCERA) author Altare Chiara Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA. author Singh Neha 0000-0003-0057-121X Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK. author Spiegel Paul 0000-0002-6158-6661 Center for Humanitarian Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, USA. 83 10.1186/s13031-021-00418-w 34798877 1752-1505 PMC8602975 https://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13031-021-00418-w Background: For humanitarian organisations to respond effectively to complex crises, they require access to up-to-date evidence-based guidance. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of updating global guidance to context-specific and evolving needs in humanitarian settings. Our study aimed to understand the use of evidence-based guidance in humanitarian responses during COVID-19. Primary data collected during the rapidly evolving pandemic sheds new light on evidence-use processes in humanitarian response. Methods: We collected and analysed COVID-19 guidance documents, and conducted semi-structured interviews remotely with a variety of humanitarian organisations responding and adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic. We used the COVID-19 Humanitarian platform, a website established by three universities in March 2020, to solicit, collate and document these experiences and knowledge. Results: We analysed 131 guidance documents and conducted 80 interviews with humanitarian organisations, generating 61 published field experiences. Although COVID-19 guidance was quickly developed and disseminated in the initial phases of the crisis (from January to May 2020), updates or ongoing revision of the guidance has been limited. Interviews conducted between April and September 2020 showed that humanitarian organisations have responded to COVID-19 in innovative and context-specific ways, but have often had to adapt existing guidance to inform their operations in complex humanitarian settings. Conclusions: Experiences from the field indicate that humanitarian organisations consulted guidance to respond and adapt to COVID-19, but whether referring to available guidance indicates evidence use depends on its accessibility, coherence, contextual relevance and trustworthiness. Feedback loops through online platforms like the COVID-19 Humanitarian platform that relay details of these evidence-use processes to global guidance setters could improve future humanitarian response. COVID-19 Evidence Guidance Humanitarian Online platform Dewey 613 216 Centre d’études humanitaires Genève 22A8 66 Institut de santé globale 22A1 false Conflict and health 15 1 ba412654-e9bf-4f89-ae80-ec87cc08f08e Article (Published version) Public Article-scientifique-from-europePmc.pdf 1142840 application/pdf CC BY-4.0 f551d2ee1f9d16d67962dfc8341d7a35d67ec4f9036e3050b15b1aec2bb3903e openAccess Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de santé et médecine communautaires / Centre d’études humanitaires Genève Faculté de médecine / Section de médecine clinique / Département de santé et médecine communautaires / Institut de santé globale

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Use of COVID-19 evidence in humanitarian settings : the need for dynamic guidance adapted to changing humanitarian crisis contexts	Conflict and health			2021	82	95

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