Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities
Abstract Background This paper describes a participatory methodology that supports investigation of the synergistic collaboration between communities affected by infectious disease outbreak events and relevant official institutions. The core principle underlying the methodology is the recognition th...
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crspringernat:10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z 2023-05-15T16:53:04+02:00 Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities de Vries, Daniel H. Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY BMC Health Services Research volume 20, issue 1 ISSN 1472-6963 Health Policy journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z 2022-01-04T15:27:12Z Abstract Background This paper describes a participatory methodology that supports investigation of the synergistic collaboration between communities affected by infectious disease outbreak events and relevant official institutions. The core principle underlying the methodology is the recognition that synergistic relationships, characterised by mutual trust and respect, between affected communities and official institutions provide the most effective means of addressing outbreak situations. Methods The methodological approach and lessons learned were derived from four qualitative case studies including (i) two tick-borne disease events (Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Spain, 2016, and tick-borne encephalitis in the Netherlands, 2016); and (ii) two outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (norovirus in Iceland, 2017, and verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli [VTEC] in Ireland, 2018). An after-event qualitative case study approach was taken using mixed methods. The studies were conducted in collaboration with the respective national public health authorities in the affected countries by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The analysis focused on the specific actions undertaken by the participating countries’ public health and other authorities in relation to community engagement, as well as the view from the perspective of affected communities. Results Lessons highlight the critical importance of collaborating with ECDC National Focal Points during preparation and planning and with anthropological experts. Field work for each case study was conducted over one working week, which although limiting the number of individuals and institutions involved, still allowed for rich data collection due to the close collaboration with local authorities. The methodology enabled efficient extraction of synergies between authorities and communities. Implementing the methodology required a reflexivity among fieldworkers that ackowledges that different versions of reality can co-exist in the social domain. The method allowed for potential generalisability across studies. Issues of extra attention included insider-outsider perspectives, politically sensitivity of findings, and how to deal with ethical and language issues. Conclusions The overall objective of the assessment is to identify synergies between institutional decision-making bodies and community actors and networks before, during and after an outbreak response to a given public health emergency. The methodology is generic and could be applied to a range of public health emergencies, zoonotic or otherwise. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Springer Nature (via Crossref) BMC Health Services Research 20 1 |
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Health Policy |
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Health Policy de Vries, Daniel H. Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
topic_facet |
Health Policy |
description |
Abstract Background This paper describes a participatory methodology that supports investigation of the synergistic collaboration between communities affected by infectious disease outbreak events and relevant official institutions. The core principle underlying the methodology is the recognition that synergistic relationships, characterised by mutual trust and respect, between affected communities and official institutions provide the most effective means of addressing outbreak situations. Methods The methodological approach and lessons learned were derived from four qualitative case studies including (i) two tick-borne disease events (Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever in Spain, 2016, and tick-borne encephalitis in the Netherlands, 2016); and (ii) two outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis (norovirus in Iceland, 2017, and verocytotoxin-producing Escherichia coli [VTEC] in Ireland, 2018). An after-event qualitative case study approach was taken using mixed methods. The studies were conducted in collaboration with the respective national public health authorities in the affected countries by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The analysis focused on the specific actions undertaken by the participating countries’ public health and other authorities in relation to community engagement, as well as the view from the perspective of affected communities. Results Lessons highlight the critical importance of collaborating with ECDC National Focal Points during preparation and planning and with anthropological experts. Field work for each case study was conducted over one working week, which although limiting the number of individuals and institutions involved, still allowed for rich data collection due to the close collaboration with local authorities. The methodology enabled efficient extraction of synergies between authorities and communities. Implementing the methodology required a reflexivity among fieldworkers that ackowledges that different versions of reality can co-exist in the social domain. The method allowed for potential generalisability across studies. Issues of extra attention included insider-outsider perspectives, politically sensitivity of findings, and how to deal with ethical and language issues. Conclusions The overall objective of the assessment is to identify synergies between institutional decision-making bodies and community actors and networks before, during and after an outbreak response to a given public health emergency. The methodology is generic and could be applied to a range of public health emergencies, zoonotic or otherwise. |
author2 |
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
de Vries, Daniel H. Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo |
author_facet |
de Vries, Daniel H. Kinsman, John Takacs, Judit Tsolova, Svetla Ciotti, Massimo |
author_sort |
de Vries, Daniel H. |
title |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_short |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_full |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_fullStr |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
title_sort |
methodology for assessment of public health emergency preparedness and response synergies between institutional authorities and communities |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z/fulltext.html |
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Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
BMC Health Services Research volume 20, issue 1 ISSN 1472-6963 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-020-05298-z |
container_title |
BMC Health Services Research |
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20 |
container_issue |
1 |
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