Recovery, Renewal, Resilience

Poor sanitation, cramped living conditions, and insufficient health facilities put those living in informal settlements at high risk from COVID-19. Outbreaks of Ebola and Cholera have shown that public health policies are most effective when governments work closely with informal communities. Consider:

• Ensuring government efforts tackling COVID-19 are interwoven with local community coordinating committees, volunteer networks, and reporting systems
• Utilising community knowledge, information and networks to understand information about the area, and its population. Tapping into this data is important to effectively target the most vulnerable and understand needs
• Working with communities to develop public heath campaigns and to stop the spread of misinformation. Targeted radio campaigns are more effective than TV public health campaigns, as few can afford televisions and electricity is sporadic
• Working with well-informed and respected community leaders as they are often best placed to spread accurate messages and materials about COVID-19 and how to avoid it
• Developing community-driven track and trace systems to help reduce transmission
• Prioritising serious investment into local clinics, hospitals and infrastructure including sanitation and water supply
• Advocating the rights of Africa's urban poor that has left them more exposed to disease outbreaks