Page 122 - IJPS-10-1

International Journal of
Population Studies Migration and mobility data in COVID-19 response

representation of the scenarios from these two countries. to obtain migration or mobility data for strategizing
In addition, South Sudan – although being a member state pandemic response in the future remains untapped, but
of the EAC – was omitted from this analysis due to data the legal and ethical protections need to be instated to
paucity. Despite this, the current analysis is still able to ensure safer use of such data for future pandemics.
provide a snapshot of the use of mobility and migration The scope of this systematic review was limited to the
data in the EAC region for the first 2 years of the COVID-19 immediate response to the pandemic in the first 2 years,
pandemic for the benefit of all EAC member states. leaving a gap on how the EAC region applied migration
statistics in the response processes, which deserves
This review recommends that the EAC regional bloc as
well as AFTCOR should critically review the application further exploration in the future.
of migration and mobility data for COVID-19 response Acknowledgments
and the gaps thereof to inform future pandemic response
plans. It is recommended that future pandemic response The paper was presented at the Conference on Population
frameworks should mainstream migration statistics to and Reproductive Health Dynamics Under COVID-19 in
better model the diffusion of the disease on one hand Sub-Saharan Africa that was hosted by the University of
and to investigate the effectiveness and impact of the the Witwatersrand, South Africa through its Demography
interventions on the mobile population, on the other. The and Population Studies Programme. The Conference was
study recommends the formation of research collaborations supported under the auspices of the Science Granting
between the EAC secretariat and migration specialists to Councils Initiative in Sub-Saharan Africa (SGCI) and
improve the use of, and demand for, migration and mobility administered by South Africa’s National Research
statistics to improve the evidence base for managing the Foundation in collaboration with Canada’s International
migration, mobility, and health interphases. Development Research Center (IDRC), the Swedish
International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida),
5. Conclusion South Africa’s Department of Science and Innovation
(DSI), the Fons de Recherche due Quebec (FRQ),
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought about wide- the United Kingdom’s Department of International
ranging catastrophic impacts worldwide, underscores the Development (DFID), the United Kingdom Research and
need for timely data to inform decision making during Innovation (UKRI) through the Newton Fund.
critical moments. This systematic review sought to identify
if mobility and migration data were used in the COVID-19 Funding
response efforts in the EAC region. This review pinpoints None.
that the continental COVID response strategy encapsulates
the concept of utilizing timely data for monitoring response Conflict of interest
plans and the PERC was established to serve this important
purpose. Migration and mobility data can be derived from The author declares that they have no competing interests.
several sources, including global mobility datasets, online Author contributions
epidemiological data, and mobile phone apps. There is,
however, no clear evidence on the demand for such data This is single-authored article.
by the governments in their specific COVID-19 response
plans. This may partly be attributed to the complexities of Ethics approval and consent to participate
managing pandemics and the varied data requirements Not applicable.
by different stakeholders. Nevertheless, an integrated
approach that ensures spatial capture of population on the Consent for publication
move at times of pandemics stands out to be a potent tool Not applicable.
for revolutionizing future response efforts.
Published scholarly work demonstrates the potential Availability of data
use of migration and mobility statistics to model and Data used in this case report are available from the
predict the diffusion of the pandemic within nation states corresponding author on reasonable request.
or larger geographical regions. Since the traditional data
sources are unable to provide real-time data relevant for References
pandemic response, the digital technology becomes a Affara, M., Lagu, H.I., Achol, E., Karamagi, R., Omari, N.,
feasible alternative. On the same note, the huge potential Ochido, G., et al. (2021). The East African Community
of digital technology, especially in the EAC context, (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi,

Volume 10 Issue 1 (2024) 116 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.357