Francesco Checchi

Biographic Data

ID1741812
NAMEFrancesco Checchi
GIVEN NAMESFrancesco
FAMILY NAMEChecchi
SIGNATURECHECCHI F
AFFILIATIONSLondon School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
ORCID0000-0001-9030-5382
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS39
TOTAL CITATIONS17
AUTHOR COUNT39
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2008
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX2

  • Predicting the burden of acute malnutrition in drought-prone regions of Kenya

    Open AccessFrancesco Checchi, Rahaf AbuKoura et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2026

    In drought-prone regions, timely and granular predictions of the burden of acute malnutrition could support decision-making. We explored whether routinely collected and/or publicly available data could be used to predict the prevalence of global and severe acute malnutrition, as well as the mean weight-for-height Z-score and middle-upper-arm circumference for age Z-score, in arid- and semi-arid regions of Kenya, where drought is projected to incr…

  • Exploring influence and knowledge on family planning among internally displaced men

    Open AccessChol Peter Bak, Michelle Lokot et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2026

    Our research emphasises the importance of buy-in from community leaders, FP activities that reach across communities (including those in hard-to-reach areas), engagement with children and youth and engagement with faith leaders. We suggest peer-to-peer activities and radio as promising modalities to engage these groups

  • Community-based mortality surveillance among internally displaced vulnerable populations in Banadir region, Somalia, 2022–2023

    Open AccessMohamed Hussein Adam, Bashiru Garba et al.ARTICLEFrontiers in Public Health2025

    Somalia faces a severe humanitarian crisis driven by conflict, drought, and rising food prices, straining its fragile health system. Internally displaced persons (IDPs) suffer high mortality rates, yet data on causes of death remain limited. This study integrates verbal autopsy (VA) with community-based surveillance (CBS) to identify mortality causes in IDP populations. A hybrid retrospective-prospective mortality surveillance study was conducted…

  • Wartime food availability in the Gaza Strip, October 2023 to August 2024

    Open AccessFrancesco Checchi, Mija Ververs et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2025

    OBJECTIVES: To estimate food availability and the contribution of different food sources during the first 10 months (7 October 2023 to 31 August 2024) of the Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip. DESIGN: Retrospective statistical modelling analysis. SETTING: War-affected population in the Gaza Strip, occupied Palestinian Territories, with stratification into northern and south-central governorates. PARTICIPANTS: Entire population. MAIN OU…

  • Thinking fast and slow

    Open AccessPeter J Dodd, Kevin van Zandvoort et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2025

    box Displaced people are a critical, and growing, population at an increased risk of tuberculosis

  • Reconstructing Somalia’s population

    Open AccessYamna Ouchtar, Dahir Abdi Ali et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2025

    Somalia has experienced more than 30 years of armed conflict exacerbated by drought and food insecurity, which has led to major migratory flows. Despite these large-scale movements, no census has been carried out since 1975. To support effective planning and service delivery, we reconstructed Somalia’s population at district level by taking into account alternative sources of population data, natural growth and known internal and refugee displace…

  • Decision-making for childhood vaccination in crisis settings

    Open AccessPage M Light, Neha Singh et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2024

    The WHO Framework should be provided in more languages, and vaccination actors at local and national level should be engaged to improve its practicality and increase awareness of its aims. In order to reach zero-dose children, vaccines must be made available for use in expanded age groups, which is sometimes not currently feasible within the Gavi/UNICEF procurement system. Clarifying this policy would allow relevant organisations to reach more ze…

  • Population mortality before and during the Covid-19 epidemic in two Sudanese settings

    Open AccessRahaf AbuKoura, Francesco Checchi et al.ARTICLEBMC Public Health2024

    This study suggests that using a community-led capture-recapture methodology to measure excess mortality is a feasible approach in Sudan and similar settings. Deploying similar community-led estimation methodologies should be considered wherever crises and weak health infrastructure prevent an accurate and timely real-time understanding of epidemics' mortality impact in real-time

  • Drought, armed conflict and population mortality in Somalia, 2014–2018

    Open AccessAbdihamid Warsame, Severine Frison et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2023

    During 2010–2012, extreme food insecurity and famine in Somalia were estimated to account for 256,000 deaths. Since 2014 Somalia has experienced recurrent below-average rainfall, with consecutive failed rains in late 2016 and 2017 leading to large-scale drought, displacement and epidemics. We wished to estimate mortality across Somalia from 2014 to 2018, and measure the excess death toll attributable to the 2017–2018 drought-triggered crisis. We …

  • Adult mortality patterns in Yemen before and during armed conflict

    Open AccessCatherine R Mcgowan, Mervat Alhaffar et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2023

    Our data suggest increased mortality during the war/pandemic period, compared to the pre-war period, among older Yemeni adults. However, our findings require careful interpretation as our study design cannot establish causation, and as our small and non-representative sample appeared skewed towards higher-income, urban communities. Surveys of diaspora populations offer a promising means of describing mortality patterns in crisis-affected populati…

  • Inferring the impact of humanitarian responses on population mortality

    Open AccessFrancesco ChecchiARTICLEConflict and Health2023

    Reducing excess population mortality caused by crises due to armed conflict and natural disasters is an existential aim of humanitarian assistance, but the extent to which these deaths are averted in different humanitarian responses is mostly unknown. This information gap arguably weakens governance and accountability. This paper considers methodological challenges involved in making inferences about humanitarian assistance's effect on excess mor…

  • The effect of internal displacement due to armed conflict on tuberculosis treatment outcomes in northwest Syria, 2019–2020

    Open AccessA K Daif, Rosanna Glazik et al.ARTICLEJournal of Migration and Health2023Cited by: 1

    This is one of few studies which aims to quantify the effect of internal displacement on TB treatment outcomes during times of conflict. Our findings starkly highlight how social determinants contribute to poor TB outcomes and act as a starting point for much needed research on how best to manage TB in humanitarian crisis settings

  • ‘The response is like a big ship’

    Open AccessGillian McKay, Ombretta Baggio et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2022

    INTRODUCTION: The 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) took place in the highly complex protracted crisis regions of North Kivu and Ituri. The Red Cross developed a community feedback (CF) data collection process through the work of hundreds of Red Cross personnel, who gathered unprompted feedback in order to inform the response coordination mechanism and decision-making. AIM: To understand how a new CF system wa…

  • Evaluating Covid-19 decision-making in a humanitarian setting

    Open AccessAbdihamid Warsame, Mohamed M Fuje et al.ARTICLEPLOS Global Public Health2022

    The global COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented in its scope and impact. While a great deal of research has been directed towards the response in high-income countries, relatively little is known about the way in which decision-makers in low-income and crisis-affected countries have contended with the epidemic. Through use of an a priori decision framework, we aimed to evaluate the process of policy and operational decision-making in relation to th…

  • Adult mortality before and during the first wave of Covid-19 pandemic in nine communities of Yemen

    Open AccessMervat Alhaffar, Huda Basaleem et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2022

    We found some evidence of a peak in mortality during the early phase of the pandemic, but death rate estimates were otherwise too imprecise to enable strong inference on trends. Estimates suggested substantial mortality elevations from baseline during the crisis period, but are subject to serious potential biases. The study highlighted challenges of data collection in this insecure, politically contested environment

  • Exploring the temporal patterns and crisis-related risk factors for population displacement in Somalia (2016-2018)

    Open AccessAidan Yuen, Abdihamid Warsame et al.ARTICLEJournal of Migration and Health2022Cited by: 1

    This study identified temporal, and socially and biologically plausible associations between key crisis-related risk factors and displacement in Somalia. The findings suggest a sequence of events spanning a few months, where failed rains and consequent food insecurity likely prompted early population out-migration to larger urban centers where humanitarian services were more accessible. The presence of therapeutics-based food security services co…

  • Reconstructing subdistrict-level population denominators in Yemen after six years of armed conflict and forced displacement

    Open AccessFrancesco Checchi, Emilie Koum BessonARTICLEJournal of Migration and Health2022Cited by: 1

    This analysis illustrates approaches to analysing the dynamics of displacement, and the application of different models and data streams to supplement incomplete ground observations. Our findings are subject to limitations related to data quality, model inaccuracy and omission of migration outside Yemen. We recommend adaptations to the DTM project to enable more robust estimation

  • Excess mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic

    Open AccessEmilie Koum Besson, Émilie S Koum Besson et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2021

    BACKGROUND: The burden of COVID-19 in low-income and conflict-affected countries remains unclear, largely reflecting low testing rates. In parts of Yemen, reports indicated a peak in hospital admissions and burials during May-June 2020. To estimate excess mortality during the epidemic period, we quantified activity across all identifiable cemeteries within Aden governorate (population approximately 1 million) by analysing very high-resolution sat…

  • The impact of armed conflict on utilisation of health services in north-west Syria

    Open AccessAbdulkarim Ekzayez, Yasser Alhaj Ahmad et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2021

    Background Armed conflicts are known to have detrimental impact on availability and accessibility of health services. However, little is known on potential impact on utilisation of these services and health seeking behaviour. This study examines whether exposure to different types of war incidents affected utilisation of key health services—outpatient consultations, antenatal care, deliveries, and C-sections, in conflict affected areas of north w…

  • Healthcare governance during humanitarian responses

    Open AccessPrudence Jarrett, Yasin Fozdar et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2021

    To our knowledge, this is the first study to describe healthcare governance practice among humanitarian actors. Leading international humanitarian healthcare providers are already implementing many healthcare governance activities; however, these are inconsistently applied and generally not reflective of systematic policies or earmarked organisational resources. There is a need for sector-wide consensus on how the humanitarian sector defines heal…

  • Global, regional, and national estimates of the population at increased risk of severe Covid-19 due to underlying health conditions in 2020

    Open AccessAndrew Clark, Mark Jit et al.ARTICLEThe Lancet Global Health2020

    BACKGROUND: The risk of severe COVID-19 if an individual becomes infected is known to be higher in older individuals and those with underlying health conditions. Understanding the number of individuals at increased risk of severe COVID-19 and how this varies between countries should inform the design of possible strategies to shield or vaccinate those at highest risk. METHODS: We estimated the number of individuals at increased risk of severe dis…

  • Armed conflict and public health

    Open AccessSylvia Garry, Francesco ChecchiARTICLEJournal of Public Health2020

    BACKGROUND: Many people worldwide are affected by conflict, and countries affected are less likely to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This review outlines the effects of conflict on health and focuses on areas requiring more attention. METHODS: We completed a search of the literature using Medline, Embase and Global Health. RESULTS: Health effects of conflict include trauma; mental health; non-communicable diseases (NCDs); child health…

  • Towards systematic evaluation of epidemic responses during humanitarian crises

    Open AccessAbdihamid Warsame, Karl Blanchet et al.ARTICLEBMJ Global Health2020

    Epidemics continue to pose a significant public health threat to populations in low and middle-income countries. However, little is known about the appropriateness and performance of response interventions in such settings. We undertook a rapid scoping review of public health evaluation frameworks for emergency settings in order to judge their suitability for assessing epidemic response. Our search identified a large variety of frameworks. Howeve…

  • Assessing community health worker service delivery in humanitarian settings

    Open AccessNathan P Miller, Adam K Richards et al.ARTICLEJournal of Global Health2020

  • Distribution of hygiene kits during a cholera outbreak in Kasaï-Oriental, Democratic Republic of Congo

    Open AccessLauren D’Mello-Guyett, Katie Greenland et al.ARTICLEConflict and Health2020

    Between Week (W) 28-48 of the 2018 cholera outbreak in Kasaï-Oriental, there were 667 suspected cholera cases with a 5% case fatality rate (CFR). Across seven HCFs supported by MSF, 196 patients were admitted with suspected cholera between W43-W47 and hygiene kit were provided to patients upon admission and health promotion at the HCF was conducted to accompanying household contacts 5-6 times per day. Distribution of hygiene kits was limited and …