The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the world to a tipping point, but it has also reminded us that epidemics are all about people. From community leaders in Southern Africa, to religious leaders in Afghanistan and women's groups in Yemen, all defining and adapting COVID-19 protective measures to their needs; there is ample evidence that communities are central to preventing and containing epidemics.
[1]The time to take community-led action to the next level is now. Based on our collective experience of preparing and responding to outbreaks worldwide, this would require that our interventions and measures are inclusive, agile and receptive to change which is continuously grounded in regularly collected community data.
Community partnerships need joint accountability and so must be oriented by evidence. It helps us to monitor our work and foster the community trust, civil responsibility and public solidarity needed for pandemic readiness. We advocate that social and behavioural data and community perspectives drive our work and community-centred action becomes the norm.
Community feedback is an essential form of evidence in outbreaks, and should be included in decision-making processes.
[2][1] Loewenson et al. 2020 Beyond command and control: A rapid review of meaningful community-engaged responses to COVID-19. Glob Pub Health
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33734007/ [2] McKay G, Baggio O, Camara CA, et al' The response is like a big ship': community feedback as a case study of evidence uptake and use in the 2018–2020 Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the CongoBMJ Global Health 2022;7:e005971
https://gh.bmj.com/content/7/2/e005971.citation-tools