Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises
Humanitarian decision-making occurs in volatile and politically charged environments where information is often incomplete, outdated, or conflicting. Effective humanitarian response often requires interpreting poor-quality data to guide interventions, allocate resources, and assess impact. Despite a...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1602366/full |
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| author | Sandro Colombo Chiara Altare Chiara Altare |
| author_facet | Sandro Colombo Chiara Altare Chiara Altare |
| author_sort | Sandro Colombo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Humanitarian decision-making occurs in volatile and politically charged environments where information is often incomplete, outdated, or conflicting. Effective humanitarian response often requires interpreting poor-quality data to guide interventions, allocate resources, and assess impact. Despite advances in evidence generation, knowledge gaps persist, and decisions are frequently influenced by political and organizational factors rather than by data. This paper argues that data interpretation is an area of weakness in humanitarian response. Data availability and quality vary across crises, with methodological challenges and political sensitivities further complicating interpretation. The three examples of Darfur (Sudan), Yemen and Ethiopia illustrate how conflicting information and ambiguous interpretation can negatively impact critical decisions with far-reaching consequences on the affected communities. This paper concludes with suggestions for making better interpretation and use of data in humanitarian crises. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5b21410e6f4f42eaba106c60afda64de |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2296-2565 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Public Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-5b21410e6f4f42eaba106c60afda64de2025-08-20T02:06:44ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652025-06-011310.3389/fpubh.2025.16023661602366Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crisesSandro Colombo0Chiara Altare1Chiara Altare2Independent Consultant, El Escorial, SpainJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, United StatesJohns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, Baltimore, MD, United StatesHumanitarian decision-making occurs in volatile and politically charged environments where information is often incomplete, outdated, or conflicting. Effective humanitarian response often requires interpreting poor-quality data to guide interventions, allocate resources, and assess impact. Despite advances in evidence generation, knowledge gaps persist, and decisions are frequently influenced by political and organizational factors rather than by data. This paper argues that data interpretation is an area of weakness in humanitarian response. Data availability and quality vary across crises, with methodological challenges and political sensitivities further complicating interpretation. The three examples of Darfur (Sudan), Yemen and Ethiopia illustrate how conflicting information and ambiguous interpretation can negatively impact critical decisions with far-reaching consequences on the affected communities. This paper concludes with suggestions for making better interpretation and use of data in humanitarian crises.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1602366/fullhumanitarian crisesdata interpretationdecision-makingepidemiologyuncertainty |
| spellingShingle | Sandro Colombo Chiara Altare Chiara Altare Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises Frontiers in Public Health humanitarian crises data interpretation decision-making epidemiology uncertainty |
| title | Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises |
| title_full | Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises |
| title_fullStr | Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises |
| title_full_unstemmed | Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises |
| title_short | Making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises |
| title_sort | making sense of shaky data in humanitarian crises |
| topic | humanitarian crises data interpretation decision-making epidemiology uncertainty |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1602366/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT sandrocolombo makingsenseofshakydatainhumanitariancrises AT chiaraaltare makingsenseofshakydatainhumanitariancrises AT chiaraaltare makingsenseofshakydatainhumanitariancrises |