Paper details

Paper authors	Sonja Hoevelmann
In panel on	Trust in Humanitarian Action
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown: A trustful relationship is especially pertinent in health interventions. Due to an asymmetrical knowledge hierarchy, patients have to trust health professionals that treatments are in their best interest. This is equally crucial in (global) health emergencies when humanitarian organisations engage in health programs. A lack of trust or mistrust is often highlighted when explaining scepticism and resistance to humanitarian health interventions. Mistrust, as manifested through rumours, resistance, or violence against health workers, is frequently explained as a lack of knowledge and reason, which is countered through education campaigns or marginalization of traditional healing methods. By analysing three case studies of global humanitarian health interventions – the cholera epidemic in post-earthquake Haiti, the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic – we argue, however, that political-economic origins, postcolonial continuities, and neocolonial practices are strong determinants that coin the relationships in global health interventions. By looking at historical, political, economic, and social aspects, we seek to explain that mistrust can also be interpreted as an experienced-based rational reaction shaped by previous atrocities. Normatively framing mistrust in humanitarian encounters as inhibiting the success of interventions avoids addressing more relevant issues able to explain multilevel and multidimensional mistrust as rooted in power asymmetries. The paper thus explores the consequences of trust deficits and how those dynamics continue to shape the reciprocal relationship between humanitarian actors and the people that are targeted by their interventions.
Submitted by Andrea Steinke and Sonja Hoevelmann, Centre for Humanitarian Action (CHA) e.V.

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