Public trust in the time of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): the case of the DR Congo

Abstract

Over the past half century, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a low-income and post-conflict country, has experienced several Ebola Virus Disease outbreaks, with different fatality rates. The DRC is currently experiencing the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Using the PEN-3 cultural model, we assessed the socio-cultural factors affecting public trust in the government and its health agencies. Results of this analysis revealed the perceptions, enablers, and nurturers that impacted public trust in the government and its health agencies among the Congolese population. Future interventions designed to address the COVID-19 in the DRC should account for these socio-cultural factors.

The impact of COVID-19 measures on children with disabilities and their families in Uganda

“…Concerns were raised regarding availability of oxygen supply (Fenton 2020;Stein et al 2020), critical care beds and well-trained staff (Ohia, Bakarey, and Ahmad 2020;Sonenthal et al 2020) as well as laboratory testing capacity in the region, which were lacking pre-pandemic (Oladimeji, Atiba, and Adeyinka 2020). Barriers to the public's adherence to COVID-19 prevention measures were cited in some African countries, including religious and cultural beliefs and practices in Sudan (Hezima et al 2020) and South Africa (Jaja, Anyanwu, and Jaja 2020), poor health-seeking behaviour in Ethiopia (Shigute et al 2020), and general distrust of the government in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Whembolua and Tshiswaka 2020). In Zimbabwe, health workers mentioned implementing the measures is hard without access to water, long-term food supplies, and daily income (Mackworth-Young et al, 2020).…”

Zoonotic and reverse zoonotic transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2: a review and implications for Africa

“…In Africa, the transmission of human pathogens to animals may occur more frequently than we are aware of, this is because of the impact of agricultural practices and urbanization which could be the breeding ground for viral epidemics in the future. However, preventive actions must be taken including adequate biosecurity measures at the farm level, interstate collaboration and coordination among African countries, strategic policies to address such, programs to further strengthen the continuous training of public health officials including more virologists and veterinary experts and preventive education for local farmers in the African rural settings, devising cheap methods of producing locally made and readily available personal protective equipment on the African continent, use of multimedia prevention campaign especially by engaging the community leaders [ 41 - 43 ] in order to prevent a repeat of what happened in other parts of the world with reverse zoonotic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from infected persons to animals [ 44 ] and to avoid the possibility of the next viral spill-over from animals to humans.…”

Managing cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic-experience at a cancer department in a tertiary hospital in Antigua and Barbuda

“…The program was conducted early before any case COVID-19 was detected in the hospital, keeping in mind the need for social distancing and risk of infection as we move forward. It is important to realise that public trust in the government plays an important role on how the population will adhere to the requested norms [ 4 ].…”