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Research, Policy and Practice

Table 5 Recommendations for how to combat the combined impact of COVID-19 and ongoing shocks and stressors

From: COVID-19 in pastoral contexts in the greater Horn of Africa: Implications and recommendations

COVID-19 impacts

Compounding/interacting factor

Implications

Recommendations

Direct mortality and morbidity

• Comorbidities (e.g. tuberculosis)

• Conflict and raiding

• Increased morbidity and disease severity

• Increased risk of transmission

• COHTs

• Contextualized PRRAs (Table 4)

• Community-based peace efforts, in concert with resilience building and COVID-19 response

Reduced access to pastoral areas

Desert locusts

• Decreased ability to implement locust control measures

• Personal protective equipment limitations

• Loss of pasture and crops

• Decreased ability to deliver emergency services

• Designate locust control, surveillance, and response activities as essential services, and equipment and supplies as essential goods

• Coordinate local, national, and regional COVID-19 and locust control activities

• Implement locust surveillance and control activities while adhering to PHMs

Human/livestock/zoonotic disease

• Less ability to prevent and control disease

• Negative impact on human health

• Negative impact on animal health

• Reduced income due to lower market prices for sick animals, quarantines and loss of public trust

• Continued animal health measures implemented through One Health coordination structures while adhering to COVID-19 PHMs

• CAHWs on COHTs provide animal health support in addition to COVID-19 activities while adhering to PHMs

• Voucher-based programmes for animal health services

Floods, drought

• Cannot deliver emergency support

• Designate disaster relief as essential

• Implement activities while adhering to PHMs

Reduced mobility (daily grazing, migration)

• Limited land access (e.g. development displacement)

• Drought/flooding

• Desert locusts

• Increase pressure on rangelands

• Negatively impacts livestock health and productivity

• Decreased access to resource contributes to conflict

• Identify local mobility norms through community engagement and research (e.g. participatory rangeland management)

• COHTs emphasize PHMs at pastoral toponymies

• Direct support, such as livestock fodder as needed

• Destocking

Reduced access to markets

• Limited market access (e.g. distance to markets)

• Livestock disease (market closures)

• Cannot sell livestock products or buy food (e.g. grain) and other essential items

• Keep markets open while implementing PHMs (Table 4)

• Harvest natural foods

• Food aid

• Alternative livelihood development

• Traditional methods of preserving livestock products

• Selective destocking

• Mobile abattoirs

• Remote livestock sales using mobile phones