Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis

Gilmore, Brynne, Ndejjo, Rawlance, Tchetchia, Adalbert, de Claro, Vergil, Nyamupachitu-Mago, Elizabeth, Diallo, Alpha, Marques de Abreu Lopes, Claudia and Bhattacharyya, Sanghita, (2020). Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis. BMJ Global Health, 1-11

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  • Sub-type Journal article
    Author Gilmore, Brynne
    Ndejjo, Rawlance
    Tchetchia, Adalbert
    de Claro, Vergil
    Nyamupachitu-Mago, Elizabeth
    Diallo, Alpha
    Marques de Abreu Lopes, Claudia
    Bhattacharyya, Sanghita
    Title Community engagement for COVID-19 prevention and control: a rapid evidence synthesis
    Appearing in BMJ Global Health
    Publication Date 2020
    Place of Publication London
    Publisher BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
    Start page 1
    End page 11
    Language eng
    Abstract 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 syndrome and 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 behavior 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.
    Copyright Holder The Authors
    Copyright Year 2020
    Copyright type Creative commons
    DOI 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003188
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    Created: Mon, 19 Oct 2020, 12:53:34 JST by Nor Sazlin Said on behalf of UNU IIGH