Rapid Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on Wet Market Reforms: Case Studies from Vietnam, Kenya, and the Philippines - Final Report

This project aimed to understand biosecurity reform efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic at wet markets in Kenya, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Using social science methods (semi-structured interviews, rapid ethnography and media and document analysis), the project
was conducted by an expert team of social scientists from RMIT with expert partners from the Planetary and Global Health Program at St Luke’s Medical Center College in the Philippines, the Institute for Anthropology, Gender
and African Studies at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences.

The project identified 7 stakeholder groups with different interests and perspectives on wet market biosecurity reform: government, market managers, international agencies, scientists, vendors and workers, civil society groups and politicians. Findings are divided into:

1. Three social narratives influence stakeholder responses to wet market biosecurity reform in Vietnam, Kenya, and the Philippines
2. The effect of COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns on wet markets and food systems in Kenya, Philippines and Vietnam

View the project page