Guide: WHO R&D Good Participatory Practice for COVID-19 clinical trials: a toolbox
by Mesh Editorial TeamThis toolbox was developed in 2020 for the World Health Organisation COVID-19 Research Roadmap and provides a synthesis of key action points from the WHO GPP-EP guidelines. This “how to” guide gives an overview, tips and resources and will be updated as new resources are completed and approved.
Policy Briefing: Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic: ethical considerations
by Mesh Editorial Team, Nuffield Council on BioethicsThis policy briefing from The Nuffield Council on Bioethics sets out the key ethical considerations relevant to public health measures being introduced to manage the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK.
Guide: WHO guidelines on Good Participatory Practice for Trials of Emerging Pathogens (GPP-EP)
by Mesh Editorial Team, Dr Catherine HankinsGPP-EP were prepared in 2016 by the WHO to support prevention and treatment trials of emerging (and re-emerging) pathogens that were likely to cause severe outbreaks. The guidelines address how to engage community stakeholders and promote ethical standards throughout the research process.
Guide: WHO Working with Community Advisory Boards for COVID-19 related clinical studies
by World Health Organisation, Mesh Editorial TeamThis toolbox was developed for the World Health Organisation COVID-19 Research Roadmap and shares information on establishing and working with different types of Community Advisory Boards/Groups (CAB/Gs) in the context of COVID-19 clinical studies.
Guide: WHO COVID-19 Global Risk Communication and Community Engagement Strategy – interim guidance
by World Health Organisation, Mesh Editorial TeamWHO's COVID-19 Global Risk Communication and Community Engagement Strategy, December 2020 - May 2021 is underpinned by a socio-behavioural trends analysis and builds on the learnings from the response to-date. The shift presented in the document is towards the community engagement and participatory approaches that have been proven to help control and eliminate outbreaks in the past.
Published Literature: How can community engagement in health research be strengthened for infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa? A scoping review of the literature
by Mesh Editorial TeamThis literature review, published in 2021 and funded by ALERRT, looks at the body of knowledge that has been developed for community engagement specifically as it applies to emerging infectious disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa.
SSHAP (the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform) is a programme of work focusing on the social dimensions of emergency responses. Their site has an excellent resource page with COVID-19 as a search topic
Published Report: Research in global health emergencies
by Mesh Editorial Team, Nuffield Council on BioethicsThis Nuffield Council on Bioethics report from January 2020 contains the findings of a two year in-depth inquiry. The aim was to identify ways in which research can be undertaken ethically during emergencies, in order to promote the contribution that ethically-conducted research can make to improving current and future emergency preparedness and response.
Although these Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines were developed by AVAC and UNAIDS for HIV prevention trials, they are valuable to clinical trials across fields, research areas, geographies and populations.
This series of pre-recorded panel discussions form part of EBODAC's virtual event exploring acceptance and uptake of new Ebola vaccines. They include sessions on 'Trust & Community Engagement' as well as 'Rumour Management'.
This seminar, held in October 2020, explores vaccines hesitancy and what effect it will have on the development and roll-out of a potential COVID-19 vaccine. Chaired by Katherine Littler, Co-Lead, Global Health Ethics & Governance Unit at WHO.
Project Report: Right to Food Project - In their Voices
by Elizabeth Kimani-Murage, David Osogo, Hilda Owii, Michelle Mbuthia, Florence Sipalla, Teresia Njoki, Melaneia Warwick, Community Organized Groups, Nairobi“Right to Food Project” was implemented by the African Population and Health Research Center from 2018 to 2019 in urban Kenya. Different participatory visual methodologies were used to engage with the community members on the right to food. These included graffiti and wall murals, digital stories, photovoice, radio shows, human libraries, participatory educative theaters, open air events and community dialogue.
This article addresses community engagement around the COVID-19 outbreak in South Africa in April 2020 and proposes a free-to-use mobile app as well as a longer-term Community Engagement Nerve Centre for the country
Superheroes again Superbugs is a public engagement programme that aims to raise awareness on antimicrobial resistance and promote community action by engaging with students in India
Project Report: “Nothing about us without us”: How families affected by Zika are claiming back control
by Mesh Editorial Team, Natalie HunterThis article introduces a series of videos exploring experiences of the Zika epidemic from different perspectives. Within the videos we hear from mothers of children born with microcephaly and from researchers in Brazil and the UK.
Podcast: Defined roles and Working Together: A Conversation about the Community Engagement, Communications and Social Science associated with a Vaccine Trial during the Ebola Outbreak of 2014-2016.
by Sian Aggett, Mesh Editorial TeamThis podcast features the team who led the EBOVAC-Salone study at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine discussing the role community engagement played within clinical trials
eLearning: Ethics in epidemics, emergencies and disasters: Research, surveillance and patient care
by Mesh Editorial TeamThis 7 module course offers comprehensive training exploring the wide range of ethical issues faced by health professionals and policy makers working in the context of epidemics/pandemics and disaster situations, focusing primarily on the key areas of research, surveillance and patient care.
eLearning: Online training course: In the footsteps of Zika: Approaching the unknown
by Mesh Editorial TeameLearning: Free online training course: Preventing Zika
by Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic Literature: Lessons from the West Africa Ebola Epidemic: A Systematic Review of Epidemiological and Social and Behavioural Science Research Priorities
by S. A. Abramowitz, D. B Hipgrave, A. Witchard, D. L. Heymann, Mesh Editorial TeamThis literature review compared epidemiological research (EPI) with qualitative social and behavioural science research (SBS) published during the West African Ebola epidemic.
Literature: The Communication and Community Engagement Response to Ebola, 2014-2015: Evidence and Lessons for Future Global Health Crises
by Mesh Editorial Team, D. Nabarro et al, 2017Report: Generating some Minimum Quality Standards and Indicators for Community Engagement for Development and Humanitarian Practice in a Health Emergency : An Interview with Jamie Bedson
by Mesh Editorial TeamReport: UNICEF Consultation with Partners to Develop Standards and Indicators for Community Engagement
by Mesh Editorial TeamReport: Data Modeling Behaviour Change in Health Emergencies Project
by Mesh Editorial TeamReport: Modeling and measuring community engagement in health emergencies convening: Summary report
by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Mesh Editorial TeamReport: Ebola Strategic Framework
by International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Mesh Editorial TeamProject Report: Spanish Flu exhibition at the Florence Nightingale Museum, London
by Mesh Editorial TeamProject Report: Going Viral: The Mother of all pandemics Podcast
by Mesh Editorial Team, Dr Mark Honigsbaum & Hannah MawdsleyProject Report: More Deadly than War: Spanish Flu and the Threat of Pandemic, an exhibition at Torquay Museum, UK
by Mesh Editorial TeamLiterature: Building the legacy of Ebola: Survivors, health systems and a blueprint for research and development
by The WHO, Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic Literature: Word of Mouth: Learning from Polio Communication and Community Engagement Initiatives - Insights and Ideas to Accelerate Action on Other Development Issues
by USAID Maternal Child Survival Program, Mesh Editorial TeamProject Report: An Exploration of the Lived Experience of African Journalists during the 2014 Ebola Crisis
by World Federation of Science Journalists, Mesh Editorial TeamLiterature: The Legacy of Zika in Brazil: Women, Needs and Rights
by Debora Diniz, Mesh Editorial TeamEvent: Showcase 2019 - International Society of Neglected Tropical Diseases Festival
by Mesh Editorial TeamProject Report: World Mosquito Day Community Festival to raise awareness of mosquito vectors in local communities
by Leonardo Ortega-López, Mesh Editorial TeamVideo: ISNTD: Sustaining Vaccines Confidence in a Post-truth Era - panel discussion highlights
by Mesh Editorial TeamRepository: Ebola Response Anthropology Platform
by Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic Literature: Conventional Wisdom versus Actual Outcomes: Challenges in the Conduct of an Ebola Vaccine Trial in Liberia during the International Public Health Emergency
by Larson et al 2017, Mesh Editorial TeamThis paper is an assessment of a phase II, randomized controlled trial of an Ebola vaccine undertaken in Liberia during the 2014-15 West African outbreak.
Guidelines: Risk communication and community engagement for Zika virus prevention and control
by Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic literature: Trust, fear, stigma and disruptions: community perceptions and experiences during periods of low but ongoing transmission of Ebola virus disease in Sierra Leone, 2015
by Nuriddin et al, 2018, Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic literature: Community engagement: Leadership tool for catastrophic health events
by Mesh Editorial Team, Monica Schoch-Spana, Crystal Franco, Jennifer B. Nuzzo, and Christiana UsenzaAcademic Literature: Development of a set of Community-informed Ebola Messages for Sierra Leone
by Kinsman, J., et al 2017, Mesh Editorial TeamThis paper summarises a project based in Sierra Leone during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak that produced a set of culturally contextualised Ebola messages. The messages are based on findings from interviews and focus group discussions with community members from two Ebola ‘hot-spots’.
Academic Literature: Enablers and Barriers to Community Engagement in Public Health Emergency Preparedess: A Literature Review
by Ramsbottom, A., et al 2017, Mesh Editorial TeamVideo: Association of Public Health Laboratories: Fighting Emerging Infectious Diseases
by Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic Literature: 'Super Special Moms': Grassroots, social media support group aids the response to congenital Zika syndrome
by Mesh Editorial TeamEvent: The International Society for Neglected Tropical Diseases Festival
by Mesh Editorial TeamAcademic Literature: Ethics of Randomized Trials in a Public Health Emergency
by London, A. J., et al 2018, Mesh Editorial TeamThis paper briefly summarises the discussion of a committee which aimed to assess clinical trials conducted in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia during the 2014-15 Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
Literature: From ‘Trial Community’ to ‘Experimental Publics’: How Clinical Research Shapes Public Participation
by C. Montgomery & R. Pool, Mesh Editorial TeamThis article argues for a conceptual shift away from the static, singular term ‘trial community’ towards ‘experimental publics’. The authors observe that the term ‘community’ is often employed uncritically and assumes that ‘communities’ pre-exist research; that they are timeless and undifferentiated wholes. ‘Experimental publics’, by contrast, are dynamic, multiple, and impermanent in nature.
Watch a Livestream of the Clade X Pandemic Tabletop Exercise
by Mesh Editorial TeamOn the 15th May, the John Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted Clade X, a pandemic tabletop exercise. The exercise was designed to illustrate high-level strategic decisions and policies needed to prevent a severe pandemic or diminish its consequences should prevent fail. The exercise was streamed live and can still be accessed through this article.
LITERATURE: Engaging 'Communities': Anthropological Insights from the West African Ebola Epidemic
by A. Wilkinson, M. Parker, F. Martineau, and M. Leach, Mesh Editorial TeamThis article, by Wilkinson et al. 2017, deconstructs notions of 'community', and the ways it is conceptualised and understood, in order to critically reflect upon methods of engaging 'communities' during the west African Ebola epidemic in 2014.
Mesh Podcast: Community Engagement in Epidemic Preparedness and Response
by Mesh Editorial TeamThis short podcast examines the role provided by engagement practitioners in preparing for and responding to epidemic outbreak.
Article: Evaluating public communication of science and technology: The case of the Ebola virus
by Mesh Editorial TeamThis article analyses media coverage and public communications over the time of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa 2013-2016 with a focus on the interations between scientifically grounded information and messages from cultural and religious actors.
A Case Study: In 2012 the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) was awarded £29,999 from the Wellcome Trust International Engagement Awards over three years to implement an engagement project alongside its Vietnam Initiative on Zoonotic Infections (VIZIONS). The project uses simple digital storytelling techniques to bring to the surface the participants’ ideas about personal and public risk and perceptions of disease and transmission.