Paper details

Paper authors	Megan Schmidt-Sane
In panel on	How to include marginalized groups in risk communication and community engagement
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Authors: Megan Schmidt-Sane, Alex Bowmer, Hannah Brindle, María J. Blanco, David Kaawa-Mafigiri, & Shelley Lees

The political, economic, and social context of information, including who an individual or community trusts, affects the success of risk communication during a public health emergency (Eichelberger, 2007; van Goudoever et al., 2021). How, when, and where communities receive information all play a role in the uptake of that information. This becomes even more complex in a border community, where cross-border flows of people and information contribute to what people hear and how they understand an outbreak or epidemic. Border communities are often marginalized and stigmatized during epidemics, particularly when communities are blamed for importing cases of an infectious disease, and this can further erode positive perceptions of the response.

This paper reports on data from a larger project “Building Trust and Community Ownership of Ebola Awareness and Community Engagement in DRC/Uganda border communities” that used a mixed methods approach. While the project examined dynamics affecting trust in this border community, there are important lessons learned to adapt risk communication to context, and to identify and engage trusted sources of information in order to improve communication with marginalized groups during health emergencies. We will draw on lessons learned from the recent Ebola epidemic (DRC, 2018-20) and COVID-19 in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda’s western borderlands.

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