ISTP4Public New Video: Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in poor urban neighborhoods - The case of Accra and Johannesburg

We are fascinated about presenting the new video of our "IST4Public" series, which epicenter is a World Development publication on COVID-19 pandemic's impact on poor urban neighborhoods and the effectiveness of measures implemented to mitigate the effects of this crisis.

ETH Zurich Researchers external page Antoinette van der Merwe and Kathrin Durizzo from the Swiss Minerals Observatory and the Development Economics Group, respectively, elaborate on the main findings of the survey they conducted with more than 1,400 poor households in two of the African cities with the most COVID-19 infections, Accra and Greater Johannesburg, early in the pandemic, during lockdowns of public life. They conclude that a costly shutdown of public life is only effective—and might even be prevented—with a well-informed population, who perceives their government's actions as appropriate and who has access to the infrastructure required to follow WHO safety regulations. They also discuss whether those observations apply not only to African cities but to all cities and countries worldwide, trying to mitigate the crisis's effects.

We want to thank Antoinette & Kathrin for their valuable contribution to this insightful video and wish them all the best for their future research!