ISTP4Public New Video: Managing the COVID-19 pandemic in poor urban neighborhoods - The case of Accra and Johannesburg
The global COVID-19 pandemic is manifesting differently in every country. The new video of our "ISTP4Public" series sheds light on how the urban poor mitigated their risk of infection in Accra and Johannesburg at the onset of the COVID-19 outbreak. Researchers Antoinette van der Merwe from the Swiss Minerals Observatory and Kathrin Durizzo from the Development Economics Group talk about their research's main findings and the policy implications.
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 pageAntoinette 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!
- Excited to learn more? Then check the recent publication in external pageWorld Development homepage.
- Excited to watch the full interview? Then please check the ISTP external pageLinkedIn, external pageYouTube and external pageFacebook profiles.
- Please also check our ISTP4Public Video Series webpage for previous videos of this series.