Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

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    Socioeconomic Impacts of COVID-19 on Households in Somalia: Results from Round 1 of the Somali High-Frequency Phone Survey
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-01) Karamba, Wendy ; Salcher, Isabelle
    The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its effects on households create an urgent need for timely data and evidence to help monitor and mitigate the social and economic impacts of the crisis on the Somali people, especially the poor and most vulnerable. To monitor the socioeconomic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and inform policy responses and interventions, the World Bank designed and conducted a nationally representative Somali High-Frequency Phone Survey (SHFPS) of households. The survey covers important and relevant topics, including knowledge of COVID-19 and adoption of preventative behavior, economic activity and income sources, access to basic goods and services, exposure to shocks and coping mechanisms, and access to social assistance. This brief summarizes the findings of the first round of the SHFPS, implemented between June and July 2020. The information presented here is based on a sample of 2,811 households across all regions of Somalia, drawn using a random digit dialing protocol. Sampling weights are computed to ensure representativeness at the national and state level, and by population type. The same households will be tracked over 12 months, with selected respondents—typically the household head—completing interviews every 8-12 weeks. Monitoring the well-being of households over time will improve understanding of the effects of, and household responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in near-real time.
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    Impacts of COVID-19 on Communities in the Philippines: Results from the Philippines High Frequency Social Monitoring of COVID-19 Impacts Round 2, April 8-14, 2021
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-08-23) World Bank
    The brief outlines the finding from the second round of a high frequency social monitoring survey that aimed to assess the impact of COVID 19 (coronavirus) pandemic on the poorest and most vulnerable rural communities. The survey also aimed to determine the level of understanding and source of information of the communities pertaining to the COVID 19 vaccine. The second round of phone-in survey was conducted April 4-13, 2021 and across National Community Driven Development Project (NCDDP, implemented by community DSWD) communities in nine regions in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. Some of the views and observations from the respondents included : Communities were markedly concerned about vaccine safety and effectiveness and looked to doctors and health practitioners for information about vaccination plans. Getting vaccinated would likely be difficult for seniors, persons with comorbidities, and children because of health reasons. Communities preferred food, cash, and livelihood assistance.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Malawi, Round 11
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-07) World Bank
    The COVID-19 pandemic has socio-economic impacts on Malawians and there is need for timely data to monitor these impacts and support response efforts to the pandemic. In May 2020, the National Statistical Office (NSO), with support from the World Bank, launched the High Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19; a monthly survey of a nationally representative sample of households previously interviewed as part of the Malawi Integrated Household Panel Survey to monitor the economic impact of the pandemic and other shocks. This brief presents the findings from the tenth and eleventh rounds of the Malawi High-Frequency Phone Sur-vey on COVID-19 (HFPS COVID-19) conducted between the 29th of April and the 9th of June 2021.
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    COVID-19 and Inequality: How Unequal Was the Recovery from the Initial Shock?
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) Agrawal, Sarthak ; Cojocaru, Alexandru ; Montalva, Veronica ; Narayan, Ambar ; Bundervoet, Tom ; Ten, Andrey
    The restrictions on mobility and economic activity that were put in place to mitigate the health impacts of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic have had an unequal impact both across and within countries, with vulnerable populations within developing countries being affected disproportionately. An important concern is that the recovery may be similarly inequitable. Across the 17 developing countries in our sample, where policies became more conducive to mobility and economic activity, we indeed observe a partial recovery of employment and incomes in most countries, as well as improvements in food security. Although job recovery and lower policy stringency were accompanied by an overall fall in the share of the food-insecure population from 13 percent to 9 percent, those living in rural areas witnessed slower declines in food insecurity. However, the recovery was not only incomplete, but also uneven within countries. In particular, the recovery in employment among those who suffered larger initial shocks - - women, non-college-educated, and urban workers - - was not sufficient to significantly reduce the initial disparities in losses. By August-September, female employment had only recovered 30 percent of what was lost between pre-pandemic and May-June (versus 49 percent for men). Finally, more recent data for a smaller number of countries up to January 2021 indicates that while food security continued improving in these countries, recovery in employment appears to have stalled, while the disparities by gender and education persisted.
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    COVID-19 Impact Monitoring: Malawi, Round 9
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) World Bank
    In May 2020, the National Statistical Office (NSO), with support from the World Bank, launched the High-Frequency Phone Survey on COVID-19, which tracks the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic on a monthly basis for a period of 12 months. The survey aimed to recontact the entire sample of households that had been interviewed during the Integrated Household Panel Survey (IHPS) 2019 round and that had a phone number for at least one household member or a reference individual. This report presents the findings from the ninth round of the survey that was conducted during the period of April 07 - April 23, 2021.
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    Results from a COVID-19 Rapid Phone Survey in Sri Lanka
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06) Kim, Yeon Soo ; de Silva, Tiloka
    This brief presents the main findings from a rapid phone survey conducted by the World Bank across eight South Asian countries. The primary aim of the survey was to understand changes in the labor market among different groups. Additional questions were included on households’ ability to meet basic needs, safety nets, and coping mechanisms. In Sri Lanka, the survey was implemented between September and December 2020, and therefore helps assess the short-term impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
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    Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Lao PDR, Report No. 2: Results Snapshot from a Rapid Monitoring Phone Survey (Round 2)
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-05) World Bank
    The first-round survey was conducted from June 20 to July 16, 2020, when Lao PDR had just exited the nationwide lockdown. The second-round survey was conducted from February 26 to March 24, 2021, one year into the pandemic. This note provides a snapshot of results from the second-round survey. More survey results on public service delivery and citizen’s expectations from the government in response to COVID-19 are available in a separate note.
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    COVID-19 in LAC: High Frequency Phone Surveys - Technical Note
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04) Mejía-Mantilla, Carolina ; Olivieri, Sergio ; Rivadeneira, Ana ; Lara Ibarra, Gabriel ; Romero, Javier
    Latin American and the Caribbean is one of the regions in the world most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the welfare impacts for households have been severe. At the macroeconomic level, the World Bank estimates a contraction of 6.9 percent of the region’s GDP in 2020, due to pandemic-control measures and the deceleration of the global economy (World Bank, 2021). Regional export prices significantly dropped in the first semester of 2020 (5.2 percent) (Inter-American Development Bank, 2020), and although they began to recover in the second half of the year, the volume of goods-exports dropped by 8 points by the third quarter of 2020 (World Bank, 2021).
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    Barriers to Accessing Medical Care in Sub-Saharan Africa in Early Stages of COVID-19 Pandemic
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03) Swindle, Rachel ; Newhouse, David
    Eighty-two percent of respondents in a sample of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries were able to access medical care despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the remaining 18 percent, about one-third reported that the COVID-19 pandemic impaired their access, either due to lockdown restrictions, facility closures, or fear of contracting the virus. 'Lack of money' was by far the most frequently reported barrier to accessing care across countries, especially for food-insecure households, two-thirds of which cited 'lack of money' as the main healthcare access constraint. Continued monitoring can help shed light on who is most at risk of not being able to access healthcare during crises. This note makes use of newly harmonized data to summarize reasons why respondents in 11 SSA countries were unable to access medical care during early COVID-19 stages.
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    Five Ways that COVID-19 Diagnostics Can Save Lives: Prioritizing Uses of Tests to Maximize Cost-Effectiveness
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-02-23) Reed, Tristan ; Waites, William ; Manheim, David ; de Walque, Damien ; Vallini, Chiara ; Gatti, Roberta ; Hallett, Timothy B.
    Supplies of diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus), are still limited in many countries, and there is uncertainty about how to allocate the scarce supply across alternative types of testing (use cases). This Research & Policy Brief quantifies the cost-effectiveness of five alternative diagnostic use cases in terms of tests required per death averted. Across use cases, a single death can be averted by administering 940 to 8,838 tests, implying a large and positive return on investment in all use cases-even assuming a very low value for loss of life. That is, all five use cases pay for themselves many times over. When prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 is high, the most cost-effective uses of SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics seem to be clinical triage of patients, at-risk worker screening, and population surveillance. Test-trace-isolate programs and border screening are alsoworthwhile, although they are more resource intensive per death averted if done comprehensively. These latter two interventions become relativelymore cost effective when prevalence is low, and can stop the virus from entering a community completely. While governments should seekwidespread deployment of tests in all five use cases, prioritizing them in this way is likely to maximize the cost-effectiveness of their use. As morecontagious strains emerge, each use case will become more valuable than ever.