Posts In: coronavirus
WEBINAR: Impact of Covid-19 on migrants
On 4 April, the IOM and MMC second webinar on the ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Migrants’ explored how the pandemic affected migration dynamics in East Africa. ACMS director Professor Jo Vearey was one of the speakers. Watch the video and download the slides here.
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Narratives in a Time of Crisis (2022)
Narratives in a Time of Crisis is a MoVE (method.visual.explore) project that uses citizen journalism as a participatory (arts-based) research strategy to prioritize the perspectives, needs and concerns of international and domestic migrants involved in sex work in South Africa. The project invited a small group of individuals to share their stories of love, hope and hardship following one of the world’s harshest Covid-19 lockdowns.
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VIDEO: Framing migration during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa: a 12-month media monitoring project
At the International Journal of Press/Politics Virtual Conference (13-16 September 2021), maHp/African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS, Wits University) postdoctoral fellow Thea de Gruchy presented a paper (co-authored with Thulie Zikhali, Jo Vearey and Johanna Hanefeld) titled: ‘Framing migration during the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa: a 12-month media monitoring project’.
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Global Health (in)Security and Immigration Governance in Africa : pandemics, panics, politics and public health planning
Join us for the Global Health (in)Security and Immigration Governance in Africa: pandemics, panics, politics and public health planning online workshop taking place on Friday 19th November 2021, as part of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Third Biennial Conference on ‘Global Public Health Challenges: Facing them in Africa’.
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MiCoSA Issue Brief #4 – Migration and Covid-19: New and continuing concerns with South Africa’s response to the pandemic
This is the fourth in a series of issue briefs that explores the implications of Covid-19 and the South African response to the pandemic on migration and for migrant and mobile communities in South Africa.
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Behind the Masks: Mental health, marginalisation and Covid-19
maHp/ACMS researchers Rebecca Walker and Jo Vearey discuss how Covid-19 is impacting mental health and existing inequalities in South Africa.
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Lifeline to LGBTQI+ migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
The African LGBTQI+ Migration Research Network (ALMN) and the Gala Queer Archive, both located at Wits, joined forces at the onset of Covid-19 to establish an emergency relief fund to mitigate the adverse effects of the virus on the LGBTQI+ community. For their work, these organisations received nominations as Wits Heroes for going beyond the call of duty.
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Five key take home messages from the high-level dialogue on Covid-19 vaccine access for migrant and mobile populations in South Africa
The Migration and Coronavirus in Southern Africa Coordination Group (MiCoSA) recently (on 25th August) held a high-level dialogue on the access of the Covid-19 vaccine for migrant and mobile populations in South Africa.
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PODCAST: Vaccination of undocumented migrants
Human rights groups and activists are calling on the country’s acting Minister of Health Mmamoloko Kubayi to follow international guidelines by making sure that the Covid-19 vaccination programme is inclusive. ACMS director Professor Jo Vearey has added her voice to the call. Find out why this is important by listening to her SAfm interview here.
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TV INTERVIEW: Jabs for asylum seekers and undocumented migrants
African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) director Professor Jo Vearey was recently (27 July 2021) interviewed by eNCA about the call by local scholars, community leaders and activists for the South African government to include undocumented persons in the country’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out strategy. Watch her interview here.
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PODCAST: Calls for Covid-19 vaccination of undocumented
Experts call on the government to address the vaccination of undocumented persons. African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) director Professor Jo Vearey adds her voice to this call. Listen to her interview on the SAfm Sunrise radio show from earlier this week (28 July 2021).
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TV INTERVIEW: Vaccination of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers
Leaders of social, legal, and academic organisations have come together to call on the South African government to leave no one behind when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccination. The concern is that undocumented migrants are not able to access it. Director of the African Centre for Migration and Society (ACMS) Professor Jo Vearey was recently (on 27 July 2021) interviewed by SABC News about this. Watch the news insert here:
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OP-ED: Leave No One Behind: We must urgently address vaccination of undocumented migrants and asylum seekers
South Africa’s civil society and the research community call on Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi to do the right thing and follow international guidelines to ensure the Covid-19 vaccination programme is inclusive.
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Covid-19 and People on the Move in Africa
This week’s issue of ACCORD’s Covid-19 Conflict and Resilience Monitor features a piece from ACMS. The article reflects on the impact of Covid-19 on marginalised populations which include migrants, refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced people (IDPs), who have been some of the worst affected during the pandemic.
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Covid-19 and Migration Governance in Africa
This is the second in a series of occasional papers that explore the implications of Covid-19 and responses to the pandemic on migration and for migrant and mobile communities on the African continent.
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MiCoSA Issue Brief #3 – Migration and Disability in South Africa: Considering the impacts of Covid-19
This is the third in a series of issue briefs that explores the implications of Covid-19 and the South African response to the pandemic on migration and for migrant and mobile communities in South Africa.
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Migrants and the Covid-19 Vaccine Roll-out in Africa: Hesitancy and Exclusion
This occasional paper examines the current state of the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out in Africa (as of June 2021), with a particular focus on the attitude and behaviour of states and other key stakeholders towards the inclusion of international migrants.
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What does ‘home’ mean in the context of the urban housing crisis?
maHp/ACMS Associate Researcher Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon was recently invited by The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Rhodes University to help answer the question: What does ‘home’ mean in the context of the urban housing crisis? Watch the full webinar here.
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OP-ED: No country for poor people – South African government must act on its motto of ‘saving lives and protecting livelihoods’
In this Daily Maverick op-ed, maHp/ACMS postdoctoral fellow Elsa Oliveira and research associate Rebecca Walker argue that, “government must support and protect all who live here, including foreign-born migrants”.
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WEBINAR INVITATION: The “covidisation” of migration and health research – Southern African consultation
The African Centre for Migration & Society (ACMS) in collaboration with the Migration and Coronavirus in Southern Africa Coordination Group (MiCoSA) would like to invite you to attend the Southern African consultation on the “covidisation” of migration and health research.
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MENTION: Migrants left vulnerable by Covid-19 pandemic, studies show
maHp/ACMS director Professor Jo Vearey was recently mentioned in this IOL News article recommending that government’s Covid-19 vaccine programme strategy include everyone – even migrants to ensure better success.
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WEBINAR: Healthcare In Transit: Quantifying the health needs of migrants across the Limpopo
Join us today (17 March 2021) at 1pm (SA time) webinar about the health needs of migrants in Limpopo. Beginning in late 2019, MSF in partnership with the ACMS, conducted over 1,375 detailed interviews with migrants and asylum-seekers across Beitbridge and Musina, documenting the health challenges they faced. MSF and ACMS, in collaboration with the MiCoSA, will be hosting this discussion on the project findings and their implications, including what this may mean in the context of Covid-19.
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Refugees and migrants are vulnerable to ‘vaccine nationalism’ as host nations put their own citizens first
African Center for Migration and Society (ACMS) director, Professor Jo Vearey was recently quoted in this Thomson Reuters Foundation New’s article expressing her concern over possible “formal or de facto discrimination against undocumented migrants when it comes to vaccine access”.
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PODCAST: Minister Aaron Motsoaledi hits back at border posts closure critics
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced the closure of 20 land borders in a bid to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In this 702fm conversation with Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, Professor Jo Vearey explains why shutting borders is not a helpful response to Covid-19.
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PODCAST: Bietbridge humanitarian crisis
On the Beitbridge border posts hundreds of Zimbabweans have been captured waiting for days in the line to escape the thirty day hard lockdown that was recently implemented. maHp/ACMS director Professor Jo Vearey spoke to Channel Africa about this humanitarian crises.
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How migration-aware was South Africa’s initial response to Covid-19?
UoE student and ACMS/maHp intern Robin Arendse shares a summary of her MSc in Global Health Policy dissertation, which asked the question, ‘How migration-aware was South Africa’s initial response to Covid-19?’.
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Virtual Engagement and Knowledge in Context: Migration Health Research Communications in South Africa during Covid-19
UoE student and maHp intern Rachel Benavides gives a synopsis of her MSc International Development research project titled ‘Virtual Engagement and Knowledge in Context: Migration Health Research Communications in South Africa during Covid-19’, which she conducted as part of her internship at the ACMS.
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Wits Pandemic Pangolin webinar: Human Rights and Fighting Discrimination during Epidemics
The Wits Pandemic Pangolin webinar series returns tomorrow, Wednesday 30 September, at 13:00 – 14:00 SAST. This week’s dialogue titled Human Rights and Fighting Discrimination during Epidemics takes up the way that Covid-19 has acted as a transmission belt of wider social anxieties around justice, equity and prejudice.
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MiCoSA Issue Brief #2 – Migration and Covid-19: A review of South Africa’s policy response to the pandemic
This is the second in a series of issue briefs that explores the implications of Covid-19 and the South African response to the pandemic on migration and for migrant and mobile communities in South Africa.
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Services for refugees and migrants in Covid-19 lockdown
Do you need legal or psycho-social assistance during the national Covid-19 lockdown and ongoing pandemic? See this infographic and list of services for refugees and migrants during the Covid-19 lockdown.
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Migration Health Evidence Portal for COVID-19
The IOM Migration Health Research Portal has established an interactive, open-source, searchable, repository of research publications on COVID-19 in relation to migrants, migration, and human mobility.
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Coronavirus: APO Group to support African governments in the fight against COVID-19
APO Group, the leading pan-African communications and business consultancy, recently announced they will support the dissemination of coronavirus-related information from African governments to the press and public.
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VIDEO: Coronavirus amid a vulnerable populace
Last night (14 April 2020) ACMS Professor Jo Vearey was interviewed by Godfred Akoto Boafo of Citi TV’s current affairs show ‘Face to Face’, about the coronavirus pandemic and its impact on migrants.
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Wits COVID-19 dashboard goes continental
Wits University’s COVID-19 dashboard has grown with new data features, including snapshot views of how the pandemic is spreading in Africa, as well as statistics showing world trends, being added.
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How is the Corona pandemic affecting the lives of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants in South Africa and Canada? Two Protect researchers share their insights.
This is one of two blog posts where Protect researchers reflect upon how the Corona pandemic is affecting people on the move across the world. In this post, Professor Jo Vearey from Wits University and Professor Idil Atak from Ryerson University share their insights from South Africa and Canada.
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COVID-19 Corona Virus South African Resource Portal
The South African government has set up an online resource portal to specifically share information about the Covid-19 / coronavirus pandemic, as it relates to the country.
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OP-ED: Covid-19 lockdown needs to protect inner-city communities
ACMS/maHp associate researcher Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, and the general secretary of the Inner-City Federation Siyabonga Mahlangu argue that it is critical the police and army deployment for the Covid-19 lockdown not result in the persecution of residents of unlawful occupations.
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OP-ED: Why xenophobia is bad for the health of all in South Africa
South Africa mustn’t forget the public — and that includes migrants and refugees — in its public health response to COVID-19, writes ACMS director, Associate Professor Jo Vearey.
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OP-ED: Border walls don’t stop viruses. But this might
Both the United States and South Africa have punted increased border security as a way to curb the coronavirus outbreak. Here’s why South Africa should be thinking less about walls and more about amnesty as cases mount.
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As the middle-class posts lockdown selfies, how are the poor coping?
ACMS Masters student Shireen Mukadam speaks to the poor about the impact of the coronavirus and the national lockdown on their lives.
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