Background: The World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa region experiences multiple public health emergencies (PHEs) annually. PHEs have been documented to affect the provision of health services including immunisation. To our knowledge, there is a scarcity of studies characterising PHEs and the performance of national immunisation programmes (NIPs) in countries within the WHO Africa region that have experienced PHEs. This study assessed PHEs (armed conflicts, disasters, and disease outbreaks) and the performance of NIPs in the context of PHEs using global and regional immunisation targets. Methods Countries in the WHO Africa region that were reported to benefit from the African Public Health Emergency Fund (APHEF) were used as case studies. Data on PHEs and immunisation indicators recorded between 2010 and 2019 in the study countries were extracted from different electronic PHE databases (the Emergency Events database, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program, the WHO Emergency Preparedness and Response, and the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases Mail) and the WHO/UNICEF immunisation database, respectively. The PHEs and immunisation indicators were stratified by country and summarised using descriptive statistics. The Mann-Whitney U test was carried out to determine the association between the frequency of PHEs and the performance of NIPs in the selected countries from 2010 to 2019. Statistical significance was defined at p-value < 0.05. Results Thirteen countries were included in this study. A total of 175 disease outbreaks, 288 armed conflicts, and 318 disasters were reported to have occurred within the 13 countries from 2010 to 2019. The Democratic Republic of Congo had the highest total PHE count (n=208), while Liberia had the lowest (n=20). Only three of the 13 countries had a median coverage value for the third dose of the combined Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis vaccine (DTP3) that had attained the target for ≥90% immunisation coverage. Higher counts of armed conflict and total PHEs were statistically significantly (p=0.03) associated with not attaining MNT elimination. Conclusion PHEs are prevalent in the WHO Africa region, irrespective of the level of a country's immunisation maturity. In absence of effective interventions, PHEs have the potential to derail the progress of NIPs in the WHO Africa region. As we enter the Immunisation Agenda 2030 era, this study advocates for the prioritisation of interventions to mitigate the impacts of PHEs on the NIPs.

No description available.

Les urgences sanitaires de portée internationale font partie de ces risques que les Etats, pris isolément, ne peuvent gérer seul pour assurer la permanence du bien-être de leur population. Cette thèse explore alors la possibilité de pallier l'insuffisante intégration de la communauté internationale en matière de gestion de ce qui sera considéré comme des risques biologiques, par l'établissement d'un système de gouvernance internationale et globale fondée sur l'échange d'informations. Pour le fonctionnement de ce système, l'information doit être produite mais elle doit également avoir la possibilité juridique d'être échangée. Dans ce contexte, l'échange d'informations se doit d'être organisé de manière à tenir compte des caractères juridiques des informations utiles à la gestion de ces risques. L'étude des conditions de cet échange met alors en évidence le rôle essentiel du droit dans l'organisation des conditions de l'efficience de ces échanges, et dès lors dans le fonctionnement de ce système de gouvernance. Elle en montre aussi les limites. / Public health emergencies of international concern are part of those risks that can not be efficiently managed by States on their own to ensure the longstanding well-being of their population. This thesis explores the possibility to supersede the international community's lack of integration for the management of what will be considered as biological risks, by the designing of an international and global governance system based on the exchange of information. For the functionning of this system, information will need to be produced and have the capacity to be exchanged. In this context, information exchanges ought to be organised, in order to take into account the legal specifities of the information involved. The study will thus aim at emphasizing on the essential role of law in the organisation of those exchanges but also on its limitations.

As emergências de saúde pública, provocadas por doenças infecciosas, têm impulsionado uma intensa reflexão no campo da saúde pública sobre possíveis caminhos para lidar com a complexidade do problema. Entre as estratégias para melhorar a capacidade de resposta dos países a essas emergências, a OMS enfatiza a necessidade de organização dos serviços hospitalares e a formação de profissionais de saúde. Pelo espaço de um Hospital Universitário, o objetivo consistiu em compreender as representações sociais de emergências de saúde pública entre gestores, que experienciaram a Pandemia de Influenza A (H1N1) de 2009. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, encontrando-se na Teoria das Representações Sociais a fundamentação teórico-metodológica. A coleta de informações ocorreu mediante as técnicas de associação livre e de entrevistas semiestruturadas, aplicadas a 30 participantes. As informações foram submetidas à análise de conteúdo categorial temática, resultando nas categorias: vulnerabilidade, proteção da saúde, descaso – zonas nebulosas da esfera pública, e, por fim, integralidade. A emergência de saúde pública é representada a uma distância segura do compreensível. O medo e a insegurança que transitam pelo espaço do obscuro, do desconhecido e do incognoscível reforçam o espectro da vulnerabilidade. A imagem de proteção da saúde, organizada principalmente pela ideia de prevenção, relaciona-se intimamente a medidas de contenção, constatando-se permanências da herança da saúde pública e da medicina tradicional. A naturalização da ‘falta de’, que transita por zonas nebulosas da esfera pública, reforça um discurso reificado de que o hospital universitário não tem estrutura para atender essa demanda. A defesa da educação permanente, organizando a imagem da integralidade, acena uma possibilidade de mudança na percepção predominantemente técnico-científica da gestão. Confirma-se a tese de que as representações sociais de emergências de saúde pública na pandemia de influenza entre gestores no espaço de um HU organizam-se na contradição entre a imagem de excelência desses hospitais e a realidade vivida pelos gestores no dia-a-dia do trabalho. Manter a crítica individual, coletiva, educativa e social, assumindo compromissos, responsabilidades nos espaços das macro e micro políticas do Estado, dos HU’s e das equipes de trabalho, são possibilidades que se desenham na pesquisa como contribuições para a gestão das emergências de saúde pública. / The public health emergencies, caused by infectious diseases, have driven an intense reflection in the public health field about possible ways to deal with the complexity of the problem. Among the strategies to improve the capacity of countries' response to such emergencies, WHO emphasizes the need of hospital services organization and health professionals formation. By the space of a University Hospital, the objective consisted in understanding the social representations of public health emergencies among managers, who have experienced the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic. The research is of qualitative nature, case study type, lying in the Social Representations Theory its theoretical-methodological grounding. Data collection occurred through techniques of free association and semi-structured interviews, applied to 30 participants. Data were submitted to thematic categorical content analysis, resulting in the categories: vulnerability, health protection, neglect - gray areas of the public sphere and, finally, integrality. The public health emergency is represented at a safe distance of the understandable. Fear and insecurity that transit through the space of the obscure, the unknown and the uncognizable reinforce the specter of vulnerability. The image of health protection, organized mainly by the idea of prevention, is closely related to containment measures, and is noted the permanence of inheritance of traditional public health and medicine. The naturalization of the 'lack of', which transits through gray areas of public sphere, reinforces a reified discourse that the university hospital has no structure to meet this demand. The defense of continuing education, organizing the image of integrality, waves a possibility of change in the perception predominantly technical and scientific of management. It is confirmed the thesis that social representations of public health emergencies in pandemic influenza among managers in the space of a UH are organized in the contradiction between the image of excellence of these hospitals and the reality experienced by managers in their day-to-day work. Keeping the individual, collective, educational and social critique, taking on commitments, responsibilities in the spaces of macro and micro policies of the State, of UH's and work teams, are possibilities that emerge from the research as contributions to the management of public health emergencies. / Las emergencias de salud pública, provocadas por enfermedades infecciosas, han impulsionado una intensa reflexión en el campo de la salud pública sobre posibles caminos para lidiar con la complejidad del problema. Entre las estrategias para mejorar la capacidad de respuesta de los países a esas emergencias, la OMS enfatiza la necesidad de organización de los servicios hospitalarios y la formación de profesionales de salud. Por el espacio de un Hospital Universitario, el objetivo consistió en comprender las representaciones sociales de emergencias de salud pública entre gestores, que experimentaron la Pandemia de Influenza A (H1N1) de 2009. La investigación es de naturaleza cualitativa, del tipo estudio de caso, encontrándose en la Teoría de las Representaciones Sociales la fundamentación teórico-metodológica. La recolección de informaciones ocurrió mediante las técnicas de asociación libre y de entrevistas semiestructuradas, aplicadas a 30 participantes. Las informaciones fueron sometidas a análisis de contenido categorial temática, resultando en las categorías: vulnerabilidad, protección de la salud, descaso – zonas nebulosas de la esfera pública, y, por fin, integralidad. La emergencia de salud pública está representada a una distancia segura de lo comprensible. El miedo y la inseguridad que transitan por el espacio de lo oscuro, de lo desconocido y de lo incognoscible refuerzan el espectro de la vulnerabilidad. La imagen de protección de la salud, organizada principalmente por la idea de prevención, se relaciona íntimamente a medidas de contención, constatándose permanencias de la herencia de la salud pública y de la medicina tradicional. La naturalización de la ‘falta de’, que transita por zonas nebulosas de la esfera pública, refuerza un discurso reificado de que el hospital universitario no tiene estructura para atender esa demanda. La defensa de la educación permanente, organizando la imagen de la integralidad, señala una posibilidad de cambio en la percepción predominantemente técnico-científica de la gestión. Se confirma la tesis de que las representaciones sociales de emergencias de salud pública en la pandemia de influenza entre gestores en el espacio de un HU se organizan en la contradicción entre la imagen de excelencia de esos hospitales y la realidad vivida por los gestores en el día a día del trabajo. Mantener la crítica individual, colectiva, educativa y social, asumiendo compromisos, responsabilidades en los espacios de las macro y micro políticas del Estado, de los HU’s y de los equipos de trabajo, son posibilidades que se diseñan en la investigación como contribuciones para la gestión de las emergencias de salud pública.

As emergências de saúde pública, provocadas por doenças infecciosas, têm impulsionado uma intensa reflexão no campo da saúde pública sobre possíveis caminhos para lidar com a complexidade do problema. Entre as estratégias para melhorar a capacidade de resposta dos países a essas emergências, a OMS enfatiza a necessidade de organização dos serviços hospitalares e a formação de profissionais de saúde. Pelo espaço de um Hospital Universitário, o objetivo consistiu em compreender as representações sociais de emergências de saúde pública entre gestores, que experienciaram a Pandemia de Influenza A (H1N1) de 2009. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, encontrando-se na Teoria das Representações Sociais a fundamentação teórico-metodológica. A coleta de informações ocorreu mediante as técnicas de associação livre e de entrevistas semiestruturadas, aplicadas a 30 participantes. As informações foram submetidas à análise de conteúdo categorial temática, resultando nas categorias: vulnerabilidade, proteção da saúde, descaso – zonas nebulosas da esfera pública, e, por fim, integralidade. A emergência de saúde pública é representada a uma distância segura do compreensível. O medo e a insegurança que transitam pelo espaço do obscuro, do desconhecido e do incognoscível reforçam o espectro da vulnerabilidade. A imagem de proteção da saúde, organizada principalmente pela ideia de prevenção, relaciona-se intimamente a medidas de contenção, constatando-se permanências da herança da saúde pública e da medicina tradicional. A naturalização da ‘falta de’, que transita por zonas nebulosas da esfera pública, reforça um discurso reificado de que o hospital universitário não tem estrutura para atender essa demanda. A defesa da educação permanente, organizando a imagem da integralidade, acena uma possibilidade de mudança na percepção predominantemente técnico-científica da gestão. Confirma-se a tese de que as representações sociais de emergências de saúde pública na pandemia de influenza entre gestores no espaço de um HU organizam-se na contradição entre a imagem de excelência desses hospitais e a realidade vivida pelos gestores no dia-a-dia do trabalho. Manter a crítica individual, coletiva, educativa e social, assumindo compromissos, responsabilidades nos espaços das macro e micro políticas do Estado, dos HU’s e das equipes de trabalho, são possibilidades que se desenham na pesquisa como contribuições para a gestão das emergências de saúde pública. / The public health emergencies, caused by infectious diseases, have driven an intense reflection in the public health field about possible ways to deal with the complexity of the problem. Among the strategies to improve the capacity of countries' response to such emergencies, WHO emphasizes the need of hospital services organization and health professionals formation. By the space of a University Hospital, the objective consisted in understanding the social representations of public health emergencies among managers, who have experienced the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic. The research is of qualitative nature, case study type, lying in the Social Representations Theory its theoretical-methodological grounding. Data collection occurred through techniques of free association and semi-structured interviews, applied to 30 participants. Data were submitted to thematic categorical content analysis, resulting in the categories: vulnerability, health protection, neglect - gray areas of the public sphere and, finally, integrality. The public health emergency is represented at a safe distance of the understandable. Fear and insecurity that transit through the space of the obscure, the unknown and the uncognizable reinforce the specter of vulnerability. The image of health protection, organized mainly by the idea of prevention, is closely related to containment measures, and is noted the permanence of inheritance of traditional public health and medicine. The naturalization of the 'lack of', which transits through gray areas of public sphere, reinforces a reified discourse that the university hospital has no structure to meet this demand. The defense of continuing education, organizing the image of integrality, waves a possibility of change in the perception predominantly technical and scientific of management. It is confirmed the thesis that social representations of public health emergencies in pandemic influenza among managers in the space of a UH are organized in the contradiction between the image of excellence of these hospitals and the reality experienced by managers in their day-to-day work. Keeping the individual, collective, educational and social critique, taking on commitments, responsibilities in the spaces of macro and micro policies of the State, of UH's and work teams, are possibilities that emerge from the research as contributions to the management of public health emergencies. / Las emergencias de salud pública, provocadas por enfermedades infecciosas, han impulsionado una intensa reflexión en el campo de la salud pública sobre posibles caminos para lidiar con la complejidad del problema. Entre las estrategias para mejorar la capacidad de respuesta de los países a esas emergencias, la OMS enfatiza la necesidad de organización de los servicios hospitalarios y la formación de profesionales de salud. Por el espacio de un Hospital Universitario, el objetivo consistió en comprender las representaciones sociales de emergencias de salud pública entre gestores, que experimentaron la Pandemia de Influenza A (H1N1) de 2009. La investigación es de naturaleza cualitativa, del tipo estudio de caso, encontrándose en la Teoría de las Representaciones Sociales la fundamentación teórico-metodológica. La recolección de informaciones ocurrió mediante las técnicas de asociación libre y de entrevistas semiestructuradas, aplicadas a 30 participantes. Las informaciones fueron sometidas a análisis de contenido categorial temática, resultando en las categorías: vulnerabilidad, protección de la salud, descaso – zonas nebulosas de la esfera pública, y, por fin, integralidad. La emergencia de salud pública está representada a una distancia segura de lo comprensible. El miedo y la inseguridad que transitan por el espacio de lo oscuro, de lo desconocido y de lo incognoscible refuerzan el espectro de la vulnerabilidad. La imagen de protección de la salud, organizada principalmente por la idea de prevención, se relaciona íntimamente a medidas de contención, constatándose permanencias de la herencia de la salud pública y de la medicina tradicional. La naturalización de la ‘falta de’, que transita por zonas nebulosas de la esfera pública, refuerza un discurso reificado de que el hospital universitario no tiene estructura para atender esa demanda. La defensa de la educación permanente, organizando la imagen de la integralidad, señala una posibilidad de cambio en la percepción predominantemente técnico-científica de la gestión. Se confirma la tesis de que las representaciones sociales de emergencias de salud pública en la pandemia de influenza entre gestores en el espacio de un HU se organizan en la contradicción entre la imagen de excelencia de esos hospitales y la realidad vivida por los gestores en el día a día del trabajo. Mantener la crítica individual, colectiva, educativa y social, asumiendo compromisos, responsabilidades en los espacios de las macro y micro políticas del Estado, de los HU’s y de los equipos de trabajo, son posibilidades que se diseñan en la investigación como contribuciones para la gestión de las emergencias de salud pública.

As emergências de saúde pública, provocadas por doenças infecciosas, têm impulsionado uma intensa reflexão no campo da saúde pública sobre possíveis caminhos para lidar com a complexidade do problema. Entre as estratégias para melhorar a capacidade de resposta dos países a essas emergências, a OMS enfatiza a necessidade de organização dos serviços hospitalares e a formação de profissionais de saúde. Pelo espaço de um Hospital Universitário, o objetivo consistiu em compreender as representações sociais de emergências de saúde pública entre gestores, que experienciaram a Pandemia de Influenza A (H1N1) de 2009. A pesquisa é de natureza qualitativa, do tipo estudo de caso, encontrando-se na Teoria das Representações Sociais a fundamentação teórico-metodológica. A coleta de informações ocorreu mediante as técnicas de associação livre e de entrevistas semiestruturadas, aplicadas a 30 participantes. As informações foram submetidas à análise de conteúdo categorial temática, resultando nas categorias: vulnerabilidade, proteção da saúde, descaso – zonas nebulosas da esfera pública, e, por fim, integralidade. A emergência de saúde pública é representada a uma distância segura do compreensível. O medo e a insegurança que transitam pelo espaço do obscuro, do desconhecido e do incognoscível reforçam o espectro da vulnerabilidade. A imagem de proteção da saúde, organizada principalmente pela ideia de prevenção, relaciona-se intimamente a medidas de contenção, constatando-se permanências da herança da saúde pública e da medicina tradicional. A naturalização da ‘falta de’, que transita por zonas nebulosas da esfera pública, reforça um discurso reificado de que o hospital universitário não tem estrutura para atender essa demanda. A defesa da educação permanente, organizando a imagem da integralidade, acena uma possibilidade de mudança na percepção predominantemente técnico-científica da gestão. Confirma-se a tese de que as representações sociais de emergências de saúde pública na pandemia de influenza entre gestores no espaço de um HU organizam-se na contradição entre a imagem de excelência desses hospitais e a realidade vivida pelos gestores no dia-a-dia do trabalho. Manter a crítica individual, coletiva, educativa e social, assumindo compromissos, responsabilidades nos espaços das macro e micro políticas do Estado, dos HU’s e das equipes de trabalho, são possibilidades que se desenham na pesquisa como contribuições para a gestão das emergências de saúde pública. / The public health emergencies, caused by infectious diseases, have driven an intense reflection in the public health field about possible ways to deal with the complexity of the problem. Among the strategies to improve the capacity of countries' response to such emergencies, WHO emphasizes the need of hospital services organization and health professionals formation. By the space of a University Hospital, the objective consisted in understanding the social representations of public health emergencies among managers, who have experienced the 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic. The research is of qualitative nature, case study type, lying in the Social Representations Theory its theoretical-methodological grounding. Data collection occurred through techniques of free association and semi-structured interviews, applied to 30 participants. Data were submitted to thematic categorical content analysis, resulting in the categories: vulnerability, health protection, neglect - gray areas of the public sphere and, finally, integrality. The public health emergency is represented at a safe distance of the understandable. Fear and insecurity that transit through the space of the obscure, the unknown and the uncognizable reinforce the specter of vulnerability. The image of health protection, organized mainly by the idea of prevention, is closely related to containment measures, and is noted the permanence of inheritance of traditional public health and medicine. The naturalization of the 'lack of', which transits through gray areas of public sphere, reinforces a reified discourse that the university hospital has no structure to meet this demand. The defense of continuing education, organizing the image of integrality, waves a possibility of change in the perception predominantly technical and scientific of management. It is confirmed the thesis that social representations of public health emergencies in pandemic influenza among managers in the space of a UH are organized in the contradiction between the image of excellence of these hospitals and the reality experienced by managers in their day-to-day work. Keeping the individual, collective, educational and social critique, taking on commitments, responsibilities in the spaces of macro and micro policies of the State, of UH's and work teams, are possibilities that emerge from the research as contributions to the management of public health emergencies. / Las emergencias de salud pública, provocadas por enfermedades infecciosas, han impulsionado una intensa reflexión en el campo de la salud pública sobre posibles caminos para lidiar con la complejidad del problema. Entre las estrategias para mejorar la capacidad de respuesta de los países a esas emergencias, la OMS enfatiza la necesidad de organización de los servicios hospitalarios y la formación de profesionales de salud. Por el espacio de un Hospital Universitario, el objetivo consistió en comprender las representaciones sociales de emergencias de salud pública entre gestores, que experimentaron la Pandemia de Influenza A (H1N1) de 2009. La investigación es de naturaleza cualitativa, del tipo estudio de caso, encontrándose en la Teoría de las Representaciones Sociales la fundamentación teórico-metodológica. La recolección de informaciones ocurrió mediante las técnicas de asociación libre y de entrevistas semiestructuradas, aplicadas a 30 participantes. Las informaciones fueron sometidas a análisis de contenido categorial temática, resultando en las categorías: vulnerabilidad, protección de la salud, descaso – zonas nebulosas de la esfera pública, y, por fin, integralidad. La emergencia de salud pública está representada a una distancia segura de lo comprensible. El miedo y la inseguridad que transitan por el espacio de lo oscuro, de lo desconocido y de lo incognoscible refuerzan el espectro de la vulnerabilidad. La imagen de protección de la salud, organizada principalmente por la idea de prevención, se relaciona íntimamente a medidas de contención, constatándose permanencias de la herencia de la salud pública y de la medicina tradicional. La naturalización de la ‘falta de’, que transita por zonas nebulosas de la esfera pública, refuerza un discurso reificado de que el hospital universitario no tiene estructura para atender esa demanda. La defensa de la educación permanente, organizando la imagen de la integralidad, señala una posibilidad de cambio en la percepción predominantemente técnico-científica de la gestión. Se confirma la tesis de que las representaciones sociales de emergencias de salud pública en la pandemia de influenza entre gestores en el espacio de un HU se organizan en la contradicción entre la imagen de excelencia de esos hospitales y la realidad vivida por los gestores en el día a día del trabajo. Mantener la crítica individual, colectiva, educativa y social, asumiendo compromisos, responsabilidades en los espacios de las macro y micro políticas del Estado, de los HU’s y de los equipos de trabajo, son posibilidades que se diseñan en la investigación como contribuciones para la gestión de las emergencias de salud pública.

During the 2013/16 Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa, numerous restrictions were placed on the movement and public gathering of local people, regardless of if the area had active Ebola cases or not. Specifically, the district of Koinadugu, Sierra Leone, preemptively enforced movement regulations before there were any cases within the district. This research demonstrates that ongoing regulations on movement and public gathering affected the livelihoods of those involved in agricultural markets in the short-term, while the outbreak was active, and in the long-term. The forthcoming thesis details the ways in which the Ebola outbreak international and national response affected locals involved in agricultural value chains in Koinadugu, Sierra Leone.

This research investigates existing and new HR practices that have impacted public health employee retention in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 pandemic. It builds on social support theory and social exchange theory to better understand the relationships between HR practices and retention, and uses quantitative methods to examine the hypotheses based on a conceptual framework. While OLS regression is employed to analyze the relationships between HR practices and retention, path analysis (bootstrapping) is used to examine the mediator variable. Based on 417 valid questionnaires distributed to public health employees in Saudi Arabia's central, western, and eastern regions, the analysis illustrates that while training and emphasis on work-life-balance as existing HR practices had a positive effect on retention, social support (supervisory support) and promotion of mental well-being as new HR practices also had a positive effect on retention during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the hypothesis that compensation and occupational health and safety would improve retention was not supported. These results indicate that financial benefits and providing safety materials did not lead to employee retention. Meanwhile, safety training programs, psychosocial support, and promotion of well-being have been essential HR practices during the pandemic. Regarding the mediation hypotheses, interestingly, the results show that organizational commitment has mediated relationships between safety training and mental (psychological) well-being on one hand and public health retention on the other during the pandemic.

This research explores how community-centered solutions facilitate the success and ownership of the response actions to deal with a public health emergency, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. When an outbreak or a hazard impacts a group of people, there is a strong need for communication in order to be able to access to the right information that takes people to make the correct decision and thus to take a protective action to be safe. This approach, known as Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE)[1], allows the co-production of knowledge needed for a group of people to remain safe. For this approach, social listening tools, such as media monitoring and community feedback collection are critical understand communities’ needs. Its analysis allows to tailor a RCCE strategy that is able to substantially reduce the threat that a public health emergency poses to human lives[2].  Communities need solutions that are adapted to their needs in order to be able to deal with any emergency, including the Covid-19 pandemic. The RCCE approach empowers communities and provides them with the tools to amplify their voices. This participatory approach allows them to co-produce knowledge and get full ownership of the solutions.  Nevertheless, in an environment with excess of information, it may not be easy to discern the truth from the false. Unverified information and rumors are frequent and social media channels facilitate their rapid dissemination without borders. ‘Infodemic’ refers to an excessive amount of information concerning a problem such that the solution is made more difficult. (WHO, 2020)[3]  Some rumors may encourage people to take wrong decisions and perform actions that exacerbate risks during an emergency. The RCCE approach helps to promote real-time exchange of information to avoid that rumors and disinformation flourish. (WHO, 2018)[4]. It also allows to identify and implement community-centered solutions to communities’ problems.  RCCE needs data to monitor and evaluate its activities and reach effectively populations in risk to encourage them to observe the health preventive measures. Lives at risk depends on the right information conveyed through the right channel at the right time. To be able to supply tailored and accurate information to those communities and engage them, evidence-based RCCE strategies are needed, respecting the socio-anthropological and cultural context of the community. This research is based on the findings from five African countries -Cabo Verde, Cameroon, the Gambia, Mozambique and Niger-, all of them seriously affected by current Covid-19 pandemic. Its conclusions help to understand the critical role that RCCE plays in health emergencies resilient recovery.   [1] World Health Organization (WHO) (‎2020)‎. Risk communication and community engagement (‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎RCCE)‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ readiness and response to the 2019 novel coronaviruses (‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎2019-‎‎nCoV)‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎: interim guidance, 26 January 2020. Geneva: WHO. [2] Risk Communication is one of the eight core functions of the International Health Regulations (2005) [3] World Health Organization (WHO) (‎2020)‎. Infodemic management: a key component of the COVID-19 global response. Weekly Epidemiological Record 95 (‎16)‎, 145 - 148. World Health Organization.  [4] World Health Organization (WHO) (2018). Communicating Risk in Public Health Emergencies - A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice. Geneva: World Health Organization.