Policy Brief: Strengthening the Humanitarian Response to COVID-19 in Colombia

This policy brief shares results of an R2HC study conducted July 2020 - February 2021, which examines adherence to public health and social distancing policies health care utilisation and costs, among Venezuelan migrant refugees and Colombian citizens throughout the COVID crisis. Results cover 60 Colombian municipalities.

Research is led by Brandeis University and Los Andes University. This brief is intended for two main audiences; applied academic researchers interested in the impact of COVID 19 in developing countries and policy makers who want to use data to make decisions about COVID 19 in Colombia. Results are summarised from four data sources: telephone surveys, COVID policies, heath care utilisation, and cell phone mobility data.

The results show:

• Colombians have slightly higher knowledge of COVID 19, public health and social distancing measures than Venezuelan migrants. However, Venezuelan migrants report slightly higher adherence to public health and social distancing among those in their communities.
• Colombians report having more difficulty accessing health care services and medicines during COVID than Venezuelan migrants.
• At the municipal level, there is considerable variation in both the implementation and intensity of public health and social distancing policies
• Patterns of health care utilisation show decreases in health care utilisation by both Colombians and Venezuelan migrants during the pandemic. These decreases are likely due to the fear by both groups of catching COVID 19
• Actual mobility captured through cell phone data shows much variation across municipalities in mobility since the start of the pandemic.