Role of Religious Leaders in COVID-19 Prevention: A Community-Level Prevention Model in Sri Lanka

Wijesinghe, Millawage Supun Dilara; Ariyaratne, Vinya; Gunawardana, Indika; Rajapaksha, R. M. Nayani Umesha; Weerasinghe, W. M. Prasad Chathuranga; Gomez, Praveen; Chandraratna, Sahani; Suveendran, Thirupathy; Karunapema, RPP

doi:10.1007/s10943-021-01463-8

Cited by 27 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Globally, faith leaders have played a dynamic role in the COVID-19 response and have supported their communities to overcome vaccine hesitancy ( 24 , 25 ). Even prior to the pandemic, faith leaders were recognized as capable of organizing and cultivating community participation in health issues ( 18 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine acceptance in rural India: Engaging faith leaders as vaccine ambassadors

Banerjee

Seth

Dhaliwal

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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IntroductionReligious faith is a key marker of identity and shapes community perspectives and trust. Faith leader involvement in vaccine campaigns in India have been beneficial to counter misinformation regarding infectious diseases such as polio. Faith leaders are influential stakeholders who bear potential to enhance public confidence in vaccine campaigns.ContextWhile vaccine coverage has been increasing in India, inequities abound, especially in populations with historically low vaccine confidence. The COVID-19 pandemic has led to major disruptions in delivery of routine immunization services for children. To address these challenges, we co-designed interventions aimed at contextual communication strategies and peer support. Engaging faith leaders was an important part of this intervention. In this report we describe our experience and highlight the perspectives of faith leaders and their expectations of the outcomes for this intervention.Programmatic elementsThe CIVIC Project, conducted from January to December 2021 aimed to engage caregivers, community health workers and key stakeholders, particularly, faith leaders in co-designing interventions to address vaccine hesitancy in Mewat. The project, deeply rooted in community based participatory research, used a three-E approach (Exploration of community perspectives, Establishment of vaccine trust and awareness, Engagement in vaccine promotion activities) to successfully engage faith leaders in the design and dissemination of media messages advocating for vaccine acceptance and uptake.Lessons learnedThe involvement of faith leaders in the intervention benefited the community in two ways. First, faith leaders were spotlighted via videos, often disseminating advice and personal anecdotes about vaccines, thus reassuring caregivers and community members who previously expressed distrust in vaccines. Second, involvement of trusted faith leaders provided a platform for a two-way dialogue for the community to openly discuss and address myths and misconceptions regarding vaccines. This project provided the learning that co-creating interventions with faith leaders who are often gatekeepers of close-knit communities can lead to the development of vaccine positive messaging that community members relate with, motivating increased vaccine confidence.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vaccine acceptance in rural India: Engaging faith leaders as vaccine ambassadors

Banerjee

Seth

Dhaliwal

et al. 2022

Front. Public Health

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“…Community-based interventions engaging refugees, community leaders and religious figures can also play a significant role in building trust, disseminating accurate messages addressing COVID-19 and vaccine-related myths and misconceptions, and influencing positive social norms. 29 30…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predicting intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 in older Syrian refugees in Lebanon: findings from a multi-wave study

Salibi

Abdulrahim

Haddad

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Introduction: COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among refugees in the Arab region remains low. This study aimed to examine the prevalence, reasons and predictors of COVID-19 vaccine refusal among older Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Method: A nested cross-sectional study among older Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The sampling frame was a complete listing of beneficiary households of a humanitarian organization with an adult aged 50 years or older. Telephone surveys were completed between September 2020 and May 2021. Logistic regression models were used to identify predictors of COVID-19 vaccine refusal. Models were internally validated using bootstrap methods and the models' calibration and discrimination were presented. Results: Of 3,173 Syrian refugees, 61% intended to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, 31% refused and 7% were undecided. Reasons for vaccine refusal were: preference to follow preventive measures (27%) and belief that the vaccine is not essential (21%). Despite high vaccine acceptance, only 6% of older Syrian refugees were registered on the national platform to receive the vaccine. Reasons for not registering included: being unsure about how to register (36%), and not wanting to receive the vaccine (33%). Predictors of COVID-19 vaccine refusal included: sex (female), older age, education, living outside informal tented settlements, perceiving COVID-19 as not severe and vaccines as not safe or effective, and using social media for information on COVID-19. After adjusting for optimization, the final model showed moderate discrimination (C-statistic: 0.65 (95% CI:(0.63-0.67)) and good calibration (C-Slope: 0.93 (95% CI:0.82-1.06)). Conclusion: This study developed predictive model for vaccination intention with a moderate discriminative ability and good calibration. Prediction models in humanitarian settings can help to identify refugees at higher risk of not intending to receive the COVID-19 vaccine for public health targeting.

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“…For their well-established social roles and because of the intersections of religion and health, religious leaders have been employed as opinion leaders in health campaigns for acute public health emergencies (e.g., during the COVID-19 pandemic Isiko, 2020 ; Wijesinghe et al, 2022 ) or West African Ebola outbreak (Lyons et al, 2021 )) and in non-emergency settings [e.g., HIV prevention in Tanzania (Downs et al, 2017 ), contraceptive use in Nigeria (Adedini et al, 2018 ), and immunization efforts in various countries (Jalloh et al, 2020 )].…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Contextual Factors of Religious Leader Participation in Health Communication: Evidence from a Qualitative Study in Sierra Leone

Lanfer

Rossmann²,

Kargbo³

2022

J Relig Health

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As there are many and sometimes ambivalent intersections of health and religion, strategic collaborations with religious opinion leaders in health campaigns have been increasingly explored. Despite the known influence of distinct contextual factors within emergency and non-emergency settings, existing research seldom distinguishes between those different factors and their impact on the inclusion of religious leaders as health messengers. To compare the contextual factors of religious leaders as health messengers during emergency and non-emergency situations in a setting with high religious affiliations, this study used a qualitative approach and triangulated the perspectives of three different samples, including (religious) opinion leaders, members of religious communities, and developers of health communication strategies in Sierra Leone. The results provide multifaceted insights into contextual factors applicable to emergency and non-emergency settings as well as the risks and opportunities. Recommendations for the incorporation of religious leaders in health promotion activities in consideration of different contextual factors are provided.

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Role of Religious Leaders in COVID-19 Prevention: A Community-Level Prevention Model in Sri Lanka

Cited by 27 publications

References 29 publications

Vaccine acceptance in rural India: Engaging faith leaders as vaccine ambassadors

Vaccine acceptance in rural India: Engaging faith leaders as vaccine ambassadors

Predicting intention to vaccinate against COVID-19 in older Syrian refugees in Lebanon: findings from a multi-wave study

Exploring the Contextual Factors of Religious Leader Participation in Health Communication: Evidence from a Qualitative Study in Sierra Leone

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