Including people with disabilities in responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

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This document provides practical guidance for development partners to develop disability-inclusive responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recommendations are provided across nine key areas: intersectionality; assessing gaps and needs; engaging people with disabilities and DPOs; accessible and inclusive communications; healthcare and essential services; livelihoods and social protection; education; independent living and housing; and evidence generation. The recommendations are drawn from key resources, detailed at the end of this document, and guidance developed by Sightsavers’ technical teams.

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    COVID-19 Crisis Comms Triage Kit

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    The Communications Network created this site to share and crowdsource best practices, resources, and examples of effective crisis communication from foundations and nonprofits covering the pandemic.

    Users are encouraged to add their own information about upcoming events, seminars, webinars, and resources.

    Source: COVID-19 Crisis Comms Triage Kit

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      COVID-19 and Family Planning Resource Center

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      The COVID-19 pandemic has had and will continue to have a profound impact on the lives of people across the globe, as well as health and social systems, and national economies. This upheaval will also have a profound impact on access to family planning information and services, as well as sexual and reproductive health more broadly.

      Despite this disruption, the need for family planning will not change. For women, family planning is critical, basic health care. As health systems shift to prevent and treat people with COVID-19, it is essential they also protect access to family planning services. Throughout the crisis, Family Planning 2020 will work with country and global partners to ensure family planning remains an essential element of the global health agenda.

      As countries determine how to deliver essential health services in the face of a global pandemic, FP2020 has created this platform to ensure key information from global experts about access to family planning during this crisis is getting into the hands of the decisionmakers and program implementers who need it. Likewise, we will be sharing experiences of our country partners and the lessons they are learning, including how the virus is having an impact on their work and the strategies they are using to continue service delivery.

      Source: COVID-19 and Family Planning Resource Center

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        COVID-19 Toolbox

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        This toolbox offers resources on general guidance for COVID-19, as well as specific guidance for clinical aspects, public health, communication, and guidance for clinical aspects, public health, communication, and guidance for different audiences.

        Source: COVID-19 Toolbox

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          Disrupting COVID-19 Stigma: Technical Brief

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          This short guide includes important considerations and resources to support country programs in recognizing and working to reduce stigma around COVID-19.

          Source: Disrupting COVID-19 Stigma – Technical Brief

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            COVID-19 Rumor Tracking Guidance for Field Teams: Technical Brief

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            This is a short guide, with important steps and resources, on how country programs can track and address rumors around COVID-19 (as needed). The guide includes a number of great resources and links while also sharing nuggets from global, collective thinking around rumors.

            The guide includes sections on:

            • Coordinating
            • Discovering the rumors
            • Verifying the information
            • Engaging the community

            Source: Technical Brief: COVID-19 Rumor Tracking Guidance for Field Teams

             

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              Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using Data to Find a Balance

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              In this report, the Partnership for EvidenceBased Response to COVID-19 (PERC), a consortium of global public health organizations and private sector firms, brings together findings from a survey conducted March 29-April 17, 2020 in 28 cities across 20 AU Member States, along with epidemiological measures of disease transmission and indicators of population movements and unrest, among others. Synthesized, these data provide a first-of-its-kind snapshot of baseline conditions in Africa during this rapidly evolving pandemic.

              The following recommendations are made:

              • While caseloads remain low, build public health capacity to test, trace, isolate, and treat cases—the necessary foundation for reopening society
              • Monitor data on how PHSMs meet local COVID-19 conditions and needs, and to determine when and how to lift them in a way that balances lives and livelihoods
              • Engage communities to adapt PHSMs to the local context and effectively communicate about risk to sustain public support, achieve widespread adherence, and shield vulnerable populations.

              Source: Responding to COVID-19 in Africa: Using Data to Find a Balance

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                Early Estimates of the Indirect Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Maternal and Child Mortality in Low-income and Middle-income Countries: A Modelling Study

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                While the COVID-19 pandemic will increase mortality due to the virus, it is also likely to increase mortality indirectly. In this study, the authors estimate the additional maternal and under-5 child deaths resulting from the potential disruption of health systems and decreased access to food.

                The results of the study show that if routine health care is disrupted and access to food is decreased (as a result of unavoidable shocks, health system collapse, or intentional choices made in responding to the pandemic), the increase in child and maternal deaths will be devastating. The authors hope these numbers add context as policy makers establish guidelines and allocate resources in the days and months to come.

                Source: Early Estimates of the Indirect Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Maternal and Child Mortality in Low-income and Middle-income Countries: A Modelling Study

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                  Gender Norms and the Coronavirus

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                  There is now emerging a wealth of commentary on the gendered implications of the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. We know that crises can spur new ways of behaving, sometimes leading to shifts in gender norms and underpinning sustained change towards gender equality. But with the fast spreading coronavirus pandemic many gender inequalities have already been intensified as existing discriminatory and harmful norms continue or worsen in the face of change such as violence against women, which has intensified globally under lockdowns and in the face of economic stress.

                  ALIGN is currently analysing what leads to shifts in gender norms both during and after crises to enhance knowledge and innovation among our community, and we will be sharing new resources as they become available. Highlighted on this site are resources produced by ALIGN and their partners relating to Covid-19 (and non-communicable diseases more broadly) and gender norms.

                  Source: Gender Norms and the Coronavirus

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                    WHO COVID-19 Learning Resources Application

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                    The WHO mobile learning app focuses on providing frontline health workers with critical, evidence-based information and tools to improve their skills and capabilities related to the pandemic.

                    This COVID-19 Digital Response offers up-to-the-minute guidance, training, and virtual workshops to support health workers in caring for patients infected by COVID-19, as well as how they can protect themselves as they do their critical work.

                    The app was created in direct response to an online survey of health workers conducted in March and April 2020 that received 20,000 submissions. Key features include learning guidance, learning materials, and tools organized into the following COVID-19 subject matter areas:

                    • Case Management: How to care for COVID-19 patients
                    • Infection Prevention Control: Protecting health worker and the community
                    • Risk Communication and Community Engagement: Communicating effectively with the public
                    • Epidemiology: Distribution, characteristics, and determinants of COVID-19
                    • Statistics: Updated news and statistics on the COVID-19 pandemic
                    • Laboratory: Testing for COVID-19 in humans
                    • Health Services and Systems: Strategic planning and coordinated action
                    • International Health Regulations: Public health and international spread of disease
                    • Research & Development: Working towards a treatment and a vaccine
                    • Operational Support and Logistics
                    • Regional Information

                    The WHO mobile learning app is a convenient tool for accessing WHO’s rapidly expanding and evolving training materials and guidance, along with opportunities to participate in virtual classrooms and other live training in six global languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.

                    Source: WHO COVID-19 Learning Resources Application

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