Role of stakeholder engagement in establishing sentinel sero-surveillance to monitor trend of SARS-CoV-2 infection transmission in population in rural India.

05 May 2022
Clinical Research Results Abstract Research Idea Abstract Service Development & Evaluation Abstract Aim: To engage various stakeholders in establishing sentinel sero-surveillance to monitor the trend of SARS-CoV-2 infection transmission in the general population in rural Western India. Outline of context: The Covid-19 pandemic has hit Western India hard, with Pune reporting extremely high numbers of cases. During this time, the KEM Hospital Research Centre (KEMHRC) undertook a study determining COVID-19 seropositivity within villages in the Pune district. Description of intervention: An extensive stakeholder engagement drive was undertaken to drive successful recruitment and implementation of our study. Between February 2021 and May 2021, we conducted 150 meetings with a range of community stakeholders including: village heads; nurses; community health workers and local government representatives, in open-aired community spaces. We advised community members on the purpose and significance of the study, clarified any concerns, and gathered and incorporated their inputs regarding study implementation. Impact: The team built trust with local communities through these meetings with continued engagement during field work and data collection helping build rapport and create ownership of the study. Community members provided feedback in terms of sero-testing results to individual study participants as well as informing communities of seroprevalence rates. KEMHRC successfully enrolled 14,500 individuals residing in 150 villages in Pune district. Lessons learned: The feedback sharing process is important in ensuring that engagement with the community is not limited to a one-time activity but continuous. Our work highlights how appropriate stakeholder engagement can help research studies even in times of an extraordinary public health crisis. Message for others: Effective communication, active engagement, transparency, provision of and respect for stakeholders’ time and needs are key elements for effective engagement in community-based research. Training and supplying opportunities can also help generate stakeholder engagement champions. Declaration of Interest Funded by the NIHR Global Health Research Unit in Respiratory Health (RESPIRE) at the Usher Institute, University of Edinburgh References and Clinical Trial Registry Information

Resource information

Respiratory conditions
  • COVID-19
Type of resource
Abstract
Conference
Malaga 2022
Author(s)
Dhiraj Agarwal, KEM Hospital Research Centre