Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis
Introduction Community engagement has been considered a fundamental component of past outbreaks, such as Ebola. However, there is concern over the lack of involvement of communities and ‘bottom-up’ approaches used within COVID-19 responses thus far. Identifying how community engagement approaches ha...
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| Format: | Article |
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BMJ Publishing Group
2020-10-01
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| Series: | BMJ Global Health |
| Online Access: | https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/10/e003188.full |
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| author | Brynne Gilmore Sanghita Bhattacharyya Rawlance Ndejjo Adalbert Tchetchia Vergil de Claro Elizabeth Mago Alpha A Diallo Claudia Lopes |
| author_facet | Brynne Gilmore Sanghita Bhattacharyya Rawlance Ndejjo Adalbert Tchetchia Vergil de Claro Elizabeth Mago Alpha A Diallo Claudia Lopes |
| author_sort | Brynne Gilmore |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction Community engagement has been considered a fundamental component of past outbreaks, such as Ebola. However, there is concern over the lack of involvement of communities and ‘bottom-up’ approaches used within COVID-19 responses thus far. Identifying how community engagement approaches have been used in past epidemics may support more robust implementation within the COVID-19 response.Methodology A rapid evidence review was conducted to identify how community engagement is used for infectious disease prevention and control during epidemics. Three databases were searched in addition to extensive snowballing for grey literature. Previous epidemics were limited to Ebola, Zika, SARS, Middle East respiratory syndromeand H1N1 since 2000. No restrictions were applied to study design or language.Results From 1112 references identified, 32 articles met our inclusion criteria, which detail 37 initiatives. Six main community engagement actors were identified: local leaders, community and faith-based organisations, community groups, health facility committees, individuals and key stakeholders. These worked on different functions: designing and planning, community entry and trust building, social and behaviour change communication, risk communication, surveillance and tracing, and logistics and administration.Conclusion COVID-19’s global presence and social transmission pathways require social and community responses. This may be particularly important to reach marginalised populations and to support equity-informed responses. Aligning previous community engagement experience with current COVID-19 community-based strategy recommendations highlights how communities can play important and active roles in prevention and control. Countries worldwide are encouraged to assess existing community engagement structures and use community engagement approaches to support contextually specific, acceptable and appropriate COVID-19 prevention and control measures. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e2d94ceb544740a7bd82b3d5f92d9204 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2059-7908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-10-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Global Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-e2d94ceb544740a7bd82b3d5f92d92042025-08-20T02:33:48ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Global Health2059-79082020-10-0151010.1136/bmjgh-2020-003188Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesisBrynne Gilmore0Sanghita Bhattacharyya1Rawlance Ndejjo2Adalbert Tchetchia3Vergil de Claro4Elizabeth Mago5Alpha A Diallo6Claudia Lopes7Centre for Global Health, Trinity College Dublin, University of Dublin, Dublin, IrelandPublic Health Foundation of India, Gurugram, Haryana, IndiaDepartment of Disease Control and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, UgandaCommunity Health–Community of Practice Collectivity, United Nations Children`s Fund (UNICEF) Headquarters, New York City, New York, USARTI International, Pasig City, PhilippinesHeller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, USAREAD-GROUP, Conakry, GuineaUnited Nations University International Institute for Global Health, Kuala Lumpur, Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaIntroduction Community engagement has been considered a fundamental component of past outbreaks, such as Ebola. However, there is concern over the lack of involvement of communities and ‘bottom-up’ approaches used within COVID-19 responses thus far. Identifying how community engagement approaches have been used in past epidemics may support more robust implementation within the COVID-19 response.Methodology A rapid evidence review was conducted to identify how community engagement is used for infectious disease prevention and control during epidemics. Three databases were searched in addition to extensive snowballing for grey literature. Previous epidemics were limited to Ebola, Zika, SARS, Middle East respiratory syndromeand H1N1 since 2000. No restrictions were applied to study design or language.Results From 1112 references identified, 32 articles met our inclusion criteria, which detail 37 initiatives. Six main community engagement actors were identified: local leaders, community and faith-based organisations, community groups, health facility committees, individuals and key stakeholders. These worked on different functions: designing and planning, community entry and trust building, social and behaviour change communication, risk communication, surveillance and tracing, and logistics and administration.Conclusion COVID-19’s global presence and social transmission pathways require social and community responses. This may be particularly important to reach marginalised populations and to support equity-informed responses. Aligning previous community engagement experience with current COVID-19 community-based strategy recommendations highlights how communities can play important and active roles in prevention and control. Countries worldwide are encouraged to assess existing community engagement structures and use community engagement approaches to support contextually specific, acceptable and appropriate COVID-19 prevention and control measures.https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/10/e003188.full |
| spellingShingle | Brynne Gilmore Sanghita Bhattacharyya Rawlance Ndejjo Adalbert Tchetchia Vergil de Claro Elizabeth Mago Alpha A Diallo Claudia Lopes Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis BMJ Global Health |
| title | Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis |
| title_full | Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis |
| title_fullStr | Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis |
| title_short | Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis |
| title_sort | community engagement for covid 19 prevention and control a rapid evidence synthesis |
| url | https://gh.bmj.com/content/5/10/e003188.full |
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