To this day, various communities in Central and West Africa remain
isolated from larger urban centers or major trading routes. As such,
cases of emerging pathogens in these populations would probably not be
reported to local health authorities and thereby increase the risk of
pathogen amplification, resulting in larger outbreaks and/or public
health emergencies of international concern. Recent outbreaks have also
made it clear that inadequate consideration of social, cultural,
political, and religious factors in humanitarian responses has fatal
consequences regarding the effectiveness and acceptability of response
activities.
Working with partners in the Democratic Republic of
the Congo, we aim to identify locally-driven solutions to effective
surveillance and early detection of pathogens in a range of isolated
communities. This approach would be complemented with the identification
and establishment of trustful communication channels between select
communities and the local health authorities and/or other responders
that could be activated during a disease outbreak. This would be
accomplished using a wide array of methods such as community-based
research groups, interviews with key stakeholders, as well as
participant observations.
Overall, this approach would create
multi-level partnerships between remote communities and local and
external health authorities, allowing surveillance plans to be supported
and acted upon.