Study brief: Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on multi-sectoral humanitarian needs

In 2020, IMPACT Initiatives, along with academic partners at the University of Manchester Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, and the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Humanitarian Health, developed a study with the main objective of informing strategic and operational decision-makers in the humanitarian sector as to how COVID-19 has impacted the severity and magnitude of humanitarian
needs.

The study primarily relied on an exploratory and statistical analysis of data from Multi-Sector Needs Assessments (MSNAs) conducted in 2019 and 2020 by REACH Initiative in partnership with Humanitarian Country Teams in Afghanistan, Ukraine, Bangladesh, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Iraq, and Libya, as well as on background data on each country’s COVID-19 outbreak, policy measures, and related impacts on humanitarian services. It serves as a starting point for humanitarian practitioners, epidemiologists, and public policy-makers to adapt their strategic and operational responses to address the unintended negative socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 policy measures on vulnerable households in an informed and context-specific manner.

This study brief summarises the methodology and findings of the study, and includes policy recommendations.