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COVID-19 and humanitarian crises

Edited by Jonathan Polonsky and Bayard Roberts


COVID-19COVID-19 poses major threats to populations affected by humanitarian crises and forced displacement due to over-crowding, intense social mixing, inadequate water and sanitation, high existing morbidity levels, and limited resources and health care capacity, and challenges implementing recommended public health and social measures to limit transmission. Governments, health and humanitarian agencies and affected populations are having to urgently adapt or develop new practices in response to COVID-19. This article collection in Conflict and Health seeks papers to improve understanding of the risks and impacts of COVID-19 to crisis-affected populations, and strategies and responses to address these. The thematic series will provide an important forum to share evidence, perspectives and opinions on COVID-19 and humanitarian crises and responses.

This collection will undergo the journal’s normal peer review process and be subject to an article-processing charge.  Manuscripts should be formatted according to our submission guidelines and submitted via the online submission system. During submission, please make sure that the correct collection title is chosen at the 'Additional Information' step. Please also indicate clearly in the covering letter that the manuscript is to be considered for this collection. This is an open-ended series and articles will be accepted for ongoing publication.

  1. The triple political, security, and health crisis in Burkina Faso has impacted the lives of Burkinabè people, resulting in massive internal displacement. These internally displaced persons (IDPs) are very vuln...

    Authors: Kadidiatou Kadio, Antarou Ly, Adidjata Ouédraogo, Mohamed Ali Ag Ahmed, Sanni Yaya and Marie-Pierre Gagnon
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:17
    Content type: Research Published on:

  2. Armed conflicts have a severe impact on the health of women and children. Global health emergencies such as pandemics and disease outbreaks further exacerbate the challenges faced by vulnerable populations in ...

    Authors: Yasir Shafiq, Elena Rubini, Zoha Zahid Fazal, Muhammad Murtaza Bukhari, Maheen Zakaria, Noor ul Huda Zeeshan, Ameer Muhammad, Luca Ragazzoni, Francesco Barone-Adesi and Martina Valente
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2024 18:12
    Content type: Review Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Conflict and Health 2024 18:18

  3. In developing nations with fragile healthcare systems, the effect of war is likely to be much worse than it would be in more developed countries. The presence of COVID-19 will also likely exacerbate the war’s ...

    Authors: Hiluf Ebuy Abraha, Mengistu Hagazi Tequare, Hale Teka, Micheal Berhe Gebremedhin, Kibrom Gebreselassie Desta, Mohamedawel Mohamedniguss Ebrahim, Awol Yemane, Sintayehu Misgina Gebremariam, Kibrom Berhanu Gebresilassie, Tesfay Hailu Tekle, Mussie Tesfay Atsbaha, Ephrem Berhe, Bereket Berhe, Derbew Fikadu Berhe, Mulugeta Gebregziabher and L. Lewis Wall
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:37
    Content type: Research Published on:

  4. Despite increasing evidence on COVID-19, few studies have been conducted in humanitarian settings and none have investigated the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic in the Central African Republic. We ...

    Authors: Chiara Altare, Natalya Kostandova, Gbètoho Fortuné Gankpe, Patricia Nalimo, Abdoul Azizi Almoustapha Abaradine, Sophie Bruneau, Caroline Antoine and Paul B. Spiegel
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:24
    Content type: Research Published on:

  5. During the Covid-19 epidemic, the increased number of people seeking medical attention worsened hospital shortages. This shortage required reallocating the workforce, personal protective equipment (PPE), medic...

    Authors: Mousa Atary and Niveen M. E. Abu-Rmeileh
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:13
    Content type: Research Published on:

  6. Populations affected by armed conflict and other humanitarian crises are at elevated risk for mental health problems. While the COVID-19 pandemic has had broadly deleterious effects on livelihoods, economic we...

    Authors: Andrea Armijos, Annie G. Bonz, Felicity L. Brown, Danielle Charlet, Flora Cohen, M. Claire Greene, Sabrina Hermosilla, Leah E. James and Karine Le Roch
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2023 17:7
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. Handwashing with soap is critical for the prevention of diarrhoeal diseases and outbreak related diseases, including interrupting the transmission of COVID-19. People living in large displacement settings are ...

    Authors: Sian White, Anika Jain, Abie Bangura, Michelle Farrington, Melaku Mekonen, Bang Chuol Nhial, Enamul Hoque, Md. Moniruzzaman, Pascaline Namegabe, John Walassa and Fiona Majorin
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:65
    Content type: Research Published on:

  8. Widespread armed conflict has affected Yemen since 2014. To date, the mortality toll of seven years of crisis, and any excess due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are not well quantified. We attempted to estimate pop...

    Authors: Mervat Alhaffar, Huda Basaleem, Fouad Othman, Khaled Alsakkaf, Sena Mohammed Mohsen Naji, Hussein Kolaise, Abdullah K. Babattah, Yassin Abdulmalik Mahyoub Salem, Hannah Brindle, Najwa Yahya, Pasquale Pepe and Francesco Checchi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:63
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. Understanding and improving access to essential services in (post)-conflict settings requires paying particular attention to the actors who occupy the space left ‘empty’ by weak or deficient State institutions...

    Authors: Sadiki Kangamina, Jean-Benoit Falisse, Amuda Baba, Liz Grant, Nigel Pearson, Yossa Way and Emma Wild-Wood
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:56
    Content type: Research Published on:

  10. Delays in seeking timely maternity care from health care professionals are crucial to address among the Rohingya population where many preventable pregnancy-related deaths occur within the camps when care is n...

    Authors: Mrittika Barua, Sayantan Chowdhury, Avijit Saha, Chand Mia, Stenly Hely Sajow and Malabika Sarker
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:51
    Content type: Research Published on:

  11. The Gaza Strip, like other settings of complex humanitarian emergencies, faces immense challenges in vaccinating its population against COVID-19. This study was conducted in October 2021 among Gaza’s adult pop...

    Authors: Jennifer Majer, Jehad H. Elhissi, Nabil Mousa and Natalya Kostandova
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:48
    Content type: Research Published on:

  12. The impacts of COVID-19 are unprecedented globally. The pandemic is reversing decades of progress in maternal, newborn, child health and nutrition (MNCHN), especially fragile and conflict-affected settings (FC...

    Authors: Mariana Rodo, Lucy Singh, Neal Russell and Neha S. Singh
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:30
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Cameroon’s Southwest Region (SW) has been hit by an armed conflict for over half a decade now, negatively affecting the region’s routine immunization and disease surveillance activities. This negative effect w...

    Authors: Andreas Ateke Njoh, Yauba Saidu, Hassan Ben Bachir, Shalom Tchokfe Ndoula, Eric Mboke, Raoul Nembot, Afizu Chrakoh Tambasho, Messang Blandine Abizou, Judith Seungue, Clarence Mbanga and Victor Njie Mbome
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:29
    Content type: Research in practice Published on:

  14. In a geopolitically at-risk environment, such as Palestine, gender-based violence (GBV) is still a crucial problem rooted in discriminatory laws and traditional habits exacerbated by the ongoing Israeli milita...

    Authors: Fayez Mahamid, Guido Veronese and Dana Bdier
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:13
    Content type: Research Published on:

  15. Mental disorders among refugees have been well explored in several studies. However, longitudinal studies on the impact of the pandemic on refugee populations are widely lacking. This study was designed to exa...

    Authors: Somen Palit, Huifang Yang, Jiangping Li, Md. Abdullah Saeed Khan and Mohammad Jahid Hasan
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:10
    Content type: Research Published on:

  16. ‘Tele-Mental Health (MH) services,’ are an increasingly important way to expand care to underserved groups in low-resource settings. In order to continue providing psychiatric, psychotherapeutic and counsellin...

    Authors: Khasan Ibragimov, Miguel Palma, Gregory Keane, Janet Ousley, Madeleine Crowe, Cristina Carreño, German Casas, Clair Mills and Augusto Llosa
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:6
    Content type: Research Published on:

  17. The COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated rapid development of preparedness and response plans to quell transmission and prevent illness across the world. Increasingly, there is an appreciation of the need to con...

    Authors: Yara M. Asi, Priliantina Bebasari, Emily Hardy, Michelle Lokot, Kristen Meagher, Emilomo Ogbe, Ateeb Ahmad Parray, Vandana Sharma, Claire J. Standley and Luissa Vahedi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2022 16:4
    Content type: Research Published on:

  18. The guidelines for differentiated service delivery (DSD) for HIV treatment became operational in Cameroon in 2017 with the Test and Treat national strategy elaborating services that can be decentralized and ta...

    Authors: Lundi-Anne Omam, Elizabeth Jarman, Wilfred Ekokobe, Agbor Evon and Esther Njomo Omam
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:90
    Content type: Research in practice Published on:

  19. COVID-19 has spread across the African continent, including Niger. Yet very little is known about the phenotype of people who tested positive for COVID-19. In this humanitarian crises region, we aimed at chara...

    Authors: Patrick D. M. C. Katoto, Issoufou Aboubacar, Batouré Oumarou, Eric Adehossi, Blanche-Philomene Melanga Anya, Aida Mounkaila, Adamou Moustapha, El khalef Ishagh, Gbaguidi Aichatou Diawara, Biey Joseph Nsiari-Muzeyi, Tambwe Didier and Charles Shey Wiysonge
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:89
    Content type: Research Published on:

  20. For almost a decade now, Mali has been facing a security crisis that led to the displacement of thousands of people within the country. Since March 2020, a health crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic also su...

    Authors: Mohamed Ali Ag Ahmed, Birama Apho Ly, Niélé Hawa Diarra, Fatoumata Bintou Traore, Djeneba Diarra, Inna Fatoumata Kande, Mahamadou Dembele, Seydou Doumbia and Hassane Alami
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:88
    Content type: Research Published on:

  21. The impacts of infectious disease outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics are not gender neutral. Instead, infectious diseases and gender-based violence (GBV) mutually reinforce each other. Women and girls in huma...

    Authors: Melissa Meinhart, Luissa Vahedi, Simone E. Carter, Catherine Poulton, Philomene Mwanze Palaku and Lindsay Stark
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:84
    Content type: Debate Published on:

  22. 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 guidanc...

    Authors: Alex Odlum, Rosemary James, Audrey Mahieu, Karl Blanchet, Chiara Altare, Neha Singh and Paul Spiegel
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:83
    Content type: Research Published on:

  23. The negative impact of COVID-19 on population health outcomes raises critical questions on health system preparedness and resilience, especially in resource-limited settings. This study examined healthworker p...

    Authors: Gloria Seruwagi, Catherine Nakidde, Felix Otieno, Joshua Kayiwa, Brian Luswata, Eric Lugada, Eric Awich Ochen, Denis Muhangi, Betty Okot, Dunstan Ddamulira, Andrew Masaba and Stephen Lawoko
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:79
    Content type: Research Published on:

  24. The political and military advance of the Taliban, reduced healthcare capacity, and imminent humanitarian crisis risk exacerbating an already very serious threat posed by COVID-19 in Afghanistan. The continued...

    Authors: Mohammad Yasir Essar, Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Zarmina Islam, Mehr Muhammad Adeel Riaz, Abdullahi Tunde Aborode and Shoaib Ahmad
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:70
    Content type: Letter to the Editor Published on:

  26. This Letter to the Editor aims to reflect on the current challenges to increase the coverage of COVID-19 vaccination in the fragile and conflict-affected setting of Lebanon, which is currently experiencing one...

    Authors: Ludmila Lobkowicz, Julien Lahoud and Ibrahim Bou-Orm
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:66
    Content type: Letter to the Editor Published on:

  27. Authorities in Somalia responded with drastic measures after the first confirmed COVID-19 case in mid-March 2020, closing borders, schools, limiting travel and prohibiting most group functions. However, the im...

    Authors: Dorien H. Braam, Sharath Srinivasan, Luke Church, Zakaria Sheikh, Freya L. Jephcott and Salome Bukachi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:47
    Content type: Research Published on:

  28. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported in Sudan on 13 March 2020. Since then, Sudan has experienced one of the highest rates of COVID-19 spread and fatalities in Africa. One year later, as...

    Authors: Quraish Sserwanja, Mohammed Bashir Adam, Joseph Kawuki and Emmanuel Olal
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:34
    Content type: Case study Published on:

  29. In this commentary we propose four questions to be addressed while building a meaningful public primary healthcare response in Lebanon today. These questions emerge from two imperatives: the necessity to consi...

    Authors: Randa Sami Hamadeh, Ola Kdouh, Rawan Hammoud, Enrica Leresche and Jennifer Leaning
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2021 15:23
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  30. A patient charter is an explicit declaration of the rights of patients within a particular health care setting. In early 2020 the Save the Children Emergency Health Unit deployed to Cox’s Bazar Bangladesh to s...

    Authors: Catherine R. McGowan, Nora Hellman, Louisa Baxter, Sonali Chakma, Samchun Nahar, Ahasan Ud Daula, Kelly Rowe, Josie Gilday, Patricia Kingori, Rachel Pounds and Rachael Cummings
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:86
    Content type: Methodology Published on:

  31. The COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to cause high morbidity and mortality in crisis-affected populations. Delivering COVID-19 treatment services in crisis settings will likely entail complex trade-offs bet...

    Authors: Sylvia Garry, Nada Abdelmagid, Louisa Baxter, Natalie Roberts, Olivier le Polain de Waroux, Sharif Ismail, Ruwan Ratnayake, Caroline Favas, Elizabeth Lewis and Francesco Checchi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:80
    Content type: Research in practice Published on:

  32. Humanitarian organizations have developed innovative and context specific interventions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as guidance has been normative in nature and most are not humanitarian specific. In ...

    Authors: Neha S. Singh, Orit Abrahim, Chiara Altare, Karl Blanchet, Caroline Favas, Alex Odlum and Paul B. Spiegel
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:79
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  33. Facility-based sentinel testing for COVID-19 was implemented in May 2020 to monitor the prevalence of COVID-19 amongst the Rohingya and host community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. In response both to low uptake...

    Authors: Catherine R. McGowan, Nora Hellman, Sayem Chowdhury, Abdul Mannan, Katherine Newell and Rachael Cummings
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:74
    Content type: Short report Published on:

  34. The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has put an additional strain on Afghanistan’s weak healthcare system. Prior to the pandemic, the government and its allies had already problems in providing high qualit...

    Authors: Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III, Mohammad Yasir Essar, Attaullah Ahmadi, Xu Lin and Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:65
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  35. Refugees and internally displaced persons in humanitarian settings are particularly susceptible to the spread of infectious illnesses such as COVID-19 due to overcrowding and inadequate access to clean water, ...

    Authors: Jude Alawa, Nawara Alawa, Adam Coutts, Richard Sullivan, Kaveh Khoshnood and Fouad M. Fouad
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:64
    Content type: Commentary Published on:

  36. COVID-19 prevention strategies in resource limited settings, modelled on the earlier response in high income countries, have thus far focused on draconian containment strategies, which impose movement restrict...

    Authors: Maysoon Dahab, Kevin van Zandvoort, Stefan Flasche, Abdihamid Warsame, Ruwan Ratnayake, Caroline Favas, Paul B. Spiegel, Ronald J. Waldman and Francesco Checchi
    Citation: Conflict and Health 2020 14:54
    Content type: Commentary Published on: